Transport secretary Chris Grayling is to work with London mayor Sadiq Khan to try to identify an affordable funding package for Crossrail 2, with London paying £15bn of the costs.
London had already committed to meeting half the cost in the long term but the aim is now to see how it could fund its half during construction. The analysis is to be carried out before the autumn Budget.
Grayling and Khan issued a joint statement yesterday, following a meeting held last week.
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They agreed London needs new infrastructure to support its growth and ensure it continues as the UK’s economic powerhouse.
“While London has shown how it could pay for half of the scheme over its life, the mayor and transport secretary want to see how London could fund half of the scheme during construction,” said the statement. “They agree on the need to ensure a funding package which works for both London and the rest of the country and recognises other priorities, but also delivers the new capacity and connectivity that London needs.”
The agreed way forward involves working in the coming months to examine ways to improve affordability while maximising the key benefits of the scheme, learning lessons from Crossrail 1, ahead of this autumn’s Budget.
Grayling said: “I am a supporter of Crossrail 2 but given its price tag we have to ensure that we get this right. The mayor and I have agreed to work together on it over the coming months to develop plans that are as strong as possible, so that the public gets an affordable scheme that is fair to the UK taxpayer.
“Following a successful outcome being reached I am keen to launch a fresh public consultation to help gather views to improve the scheme and clarify the position around the safeguarded route.”
The news that Grayling was backing the scheme was met with anger from many, especially after he announced plans last week to cut rail electrification in Wales and northern England.
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said people in the region have had to put up with “sub-standard” rail services for decades and would “simply not accept” that spending billions more on transport in London was the “highest priority”.
Burnham said the latest announcements would cause “widespread anger” in the north, saying: “It will not escape people’s notice that this commitment to London today comes just days after the Transport Secretary cancelled electrification schemes all over the country.
“It raises the question of whether taxpayers everywhere else outside of London are paying to make Crossrail 2 viable.”
He added: “The time has passed where we can take these decisions lying down.”
Liverpool City Region mayor Steve Rotheram also weighed in, querying the announcements, saying that while he did not “begrudge” the investment in Crossrail 2, there needed to be balanced spending to “support growth in the north as well”.
