Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin will be grilled by MPs next week about the costs and benefits of the controversial HS2 rail project.
McLoughlin will face questions from the House of Commons’ transport committee on the high-speed project which currently has a budget of £42.6 billion including a contingency fund of £14.4 billion.
Two representatives from business consultancy KPMG will also appear at the committee session in Parliament on Tuesday (November 26).
KPMG produced a report in September claiming that the UK economy could benefit by £15 billion per year from the HS2 rail line, which will initially be built from London to Birmingham with a second phase extending northwards to Manchester and Leeds.
But some of the figures and assumptions in this report have been questioned by the likes of BBC business editor Robert Peston.
KPMG’s Richard Threlfall, who is UK head of infrastructure, buildings and construction, and Lewis Atter, associate partner, global infrastructure, will be fielding questions from MPs about its HS2 report.
David Prout, director general of HS2, will also be appearing at the transport committee hearing.
Political support for HS2 has been weakening in recent months with Labour’s shadow chancellor Ed Ball saying there can be “no blank cheque” for the project.