Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the viability of bringing forward phase 2a of HS2 between Birmingham and Manchester; and whether that project is on schedule to be completed on time.

On 16 June, the Government published an update on recently approved revised delivery arrangements for HS2 Phase 2a, between the West Midlands and Crewe, predicated on a delivery into service range of 2030 to 2034. These arrangements will be formalised at the next fiscal event, expected to be later in 2021.