Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the comments of the Chair of the National Infrastructure Commission in the Financial Times on 26 November, in which he casts doubt on the Government’s plan for connecting the HS2 rail line to Euston through private financing.

The Network North paper published by the Department for Transport on 4 October 2023 sets out that private finance will be leveraged to ensure contributions to the cost of Euston from those people and businesses it supports. The opportunity for regeneration and new homes in the Euston area is one of the largest in central London. This development-led approach will bring in private finance, along with a reduction of the transport scope to deliver only what is required at Euston. This will reduce the costs to the taxpayer. We are also taking on the lessons of success stories such as Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms, which secured £9 billion of private sector investment. The exact design of the model to be used, how it is taken to market, as well as how and where the alternative funding generated by this will be spent, is commercially sensitive and still subject to further work to ensure we are optimising funding and delivery. Ministers and officials have held positive initial conversations with potential funders. There will be a range of options within this that are still being considered and will require more time to develop before a final proposal is determined.