Conservative leadership candidate Andrea Leadsom would review the HS2 rail project if she wins the contest to become the UK’s next prime minister.
The planned route of HS2’s first phase, which will run between London and Birmingham, is due to go through Leadsom’s South Northamptonshire constituency and she has been a critic of the scheme.
During a TV interview this week, Leadsom called HS2 “an enormously expensive project” and she would call an “early review” into the £56 billion project if she became Prime Minister.
“Are we sure this offers the best value for money? If it does, then I would commit to going ahead with it,” she said. “But if it doesn't we would have to look at other possibilities that deliver further passenger capacity.”
Leadsom is competing with home secretary Theresa May to become the new Conservative Party leader and the UK’s next prime minister. Around 150,000 party members can vote in the contest with the result due to be announced on September 9.
May has said she supports HS2 because it will improve economic growth and the UK’s infrastructure. The biggest supporter of the rail project has been chancellor George Osborne but his future is unclear with the impending change in the government's leadership.
Last month, HS2 was criticised by the National Audit Office for having an “unrealistic” timetable with too many cost and time pressures.
The current HS2 project would link London to Birmingham by 2026, with tracks to cities in the north of England including Leeds and Manchester, built by 2030.