Final decision to be made by December

Liz Truss

HS2鈥檚 future is set to be decided by the end of the year, chief secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss has revealed.

Speaking to the economic affairs committee of the House of Lords earlier this week, Truss, who has previously raised doubts about the scheme, said the project was one of a number of projects set to be looked at as part of this year鈥檚 spending review.

She said: 鈥淭he final go or no-go decision on HS2 will be due by the end of this calendar year.

鈥淲e鈥檙e looking at the economics of the projects, in particular how much future economic growth are they likely to generate, how will they improve productivity.鈥�

Truss (pictured) said the Treasury had also put initial requests to departments to come back with 鈥渢heir specific proposals on capital鈥� ahead of the review.

She also said HS2鈥檚 future would be in the hands of the next prime minister and that a plan for the spending review was unlikely to be finalised before the summer recess due to the upcoming Tory leadership vote.

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