Chancellor Rachel Reeves looks set to scrap plans for a tunnel on the A303 at Stonehenge (Image: Getty)
Rachel Reeves is expected to scrap plans for a new ￡1.7billion tunnel under Stonehenge as she announces steps to plug a ￡20bn black hole in Britain's accounts. The Chancellor will say a Treasury spending audit she commissioned shows the previous government overspent this year's budget by billions of pounds after making a series of unfunded promises.
She will also accuse the previous Conservative government of "covering up the true state of the public finances", amid accusations Ms Reeves is being "beyond disingenuous" to claim the UK's finances are worse than expected by Shadow Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.
Ms Reeves is reportedly set to scrap or cut back a number of infrastructure projects, including a controversial ￡1.7bn tunnel under the Stonehenge monument on the A303.
The tunnel project, aimed at easing pressure on the A303, has sparked lengthy legal battles over concerns it will destroy the landscape and archaeological artefacts in the surrounding area.
A congestion hotspot, the A303 sees long queues during peak holiday periods as drivers head to and from the South West on a single-carriageway stretch near the stones.
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Activists protest outside the High Court during a hearing relating to the tunnel (Image: Getty Images)
National Highways said the plan for the tunnel would remove the sight and sound of traffic passing the site and cut journey times.
Campaign group, Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site (SSWHS), previously brought a challenge over the proposals for the two-mile tunnel, part of wider plans to overhaul eight miles of the A303 from Amesbury to Berwick Down in Wiltshire.
In a ruling earlier this year, Mr Justice Holgate dismissed the campaigners' bid to overturn that decision, finding most parts of their case "unarguable". SSWHS appealed against that decision at the Court of Appeal in London earlier this month.
National Highways, which backs the tunnel, has argued the A303 is a "vital" connection between the South East and South West of England with the proposed scheme set to unlock regional economic development, generate jobs and boost housing.
The Sunday Times reported the tunnel is among the infrastructure schemes the Labour Government is set to scrap or cut back on. These include a ￡500 million Restoring Your Railway Fund and the A27 Arundel bypass.
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An artist's impression of the proposed western tunnel entrance to the A303 next to Stonehenge (Image: Highways England)
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Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said previously that something needed to be done to address the traffic problems around Stonehenge, telling the BBC congestion was "awful" on the A303.
He had said there would be a review of the scheme after the outcome of the Appeal Court hearing is made public. Sir Keir told the BBC: "Something has got to be done because the traffic situation there is intolerable."
The Conservative Party's election manifesto included a commitment to dualling the route, with Labour's not including any such pledge. Despite Sir Keir's recognition of the traffic issue, his chancellor looks set to scrap plans for a solution.
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It comes after the United Nations' cultural agency (UNESCO) last week rejected recommendations to place Stonehenge on its world heritage "in danger" list over the tunnel plans.
UNESCO's World Heritage Committee published a draft decision last month to add the prehistoric monument in Wiltshire to the list, which supports international assistance on threatened sites.
But at a meeting in New Delhi, India, on Wednesday (July 24), the committee voted for an amendment to the draft decision, which said the impacts of the tunnel development do not constitute including the monument on the "in danger" list.
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