The Tories have been pursuing a bizarre thread of written parliamentary questions about large road schemes that were pursued when they were in power and cancelled by Labour, which are only serving to highlight what a waste of money the schemes were.
It started with a question from shadow transport secretary Richard Holden:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many National Highways schemes with an extant Development Consent Order have been cancelled since 5 July 2024; and what estimate she has made of the total public expenditure incurred on each of those schemes prior to cancellation.
It was answered (sort of) by the then roads minister, Simon Lightwood, in June:
Since 5 July 2024, four road schemes with an extant Development Consent Order have been cancelled on affordability and/or value-for-money grounds.
Figures for the A303 Stonehenge Tunnel and A1 Morpeth to Ellingham dualling were published in the National Highways’ Annual Report and Accounts 2025, along with a provisional figure for the A12 Chelmsford to A120 widening and A47 Wansford to Sutton dualling schemes.
Final exact costs for the A12 and A47 will be published in the 2026 Accounts.
Note that one of these schemes is the A1 Morpeth to Ellingham which, as I have written extensively, was secretly shelved by the Tories.
The figures for this scheme and the A303 Stonehenge Tunnel in National Highways’ Annual Report and Accounts 2025 are £67.8m and £224.7m respectively, while the 2026 accounts say:
