Government will not underwrite Crossrail project

The government has denied it will underwrite the £12bn cost of the Crossrail project.

Media reports over the weekend said the Treasury has accepted a PPP model will not work for the scheme to build a rail link across London.

Civil servants are reported to have persuaded the Treasury to keep the project under public control to minimise costs.

The comments come after a Department for Transport (DfT) review led by Adrian Montague raised concerns over the project’s cost and the construction industry’s capacity to tackle the project.

However, a DfT spokesman denied the claims. “It’s clearly not the government’s position. Our position is Montague made it clear that funding is the biggest problem - everyone’s got to work together to sort out this equity problem.”