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Philip Hammond gets cost of HS2 wrong by £20bn in radio interview

   The chancellor had been attacking Labour's policy costings, which he
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   )

   The man in charge of Britain's economy got the cost of a high-speed
   railway wrong by at least £20bn in a radio interview.

   Philip Hammond told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that HS2 will cost
   the taxpayer £32bn, when in fact it is expected to cost more than
   £52bn.
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   “Just answer this question,” asked John Humphrys, who presents the
   flagship news and current affairs programme, on Wednesday morning. “How
   much is HS2 costing?

   "Thirty-two billion?" Mr Hammond replied. "About 32 billion pounds."
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   infrastructure investment plan'.

   It is possible Mr Hammond got confused about the cost of HS2 because it
   has been revised upwards several times since the controversial plan was
   first announced.

   In 2015, an analysis by The Daily Telegraph found HS2 to be the most
   expensive high speed project in existence. The price estimate at the
   time of £42.6bn put it at more than ten times the cost per kilometre of
   some global counterparts — the estimated price tag has since risen by
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   Philip Hammond |  Chancellor Philip Hammond |  Chancellor of the
   Exchequer |  Theresa May |  Conservative Party |  Labour Party |
   HS2 |  Diane Abbott |  railways |  Nationalisation |
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