Rachel Reeves ponders private finance to help fund £9bn Lower Thames Crossing

A view of the traffic flow at the Dartford crossings on the Kent side of the Thames. A tunnel operates for northbound M25 traffic into Essex while the bridge (right) is used for southbound vehicles. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

The Treasury is investigating how to attract private finance to bring down the cost of the UK government’s largest planned infrastructure project, the £9bn Lower Thames Crossing.

Rachel Reeves’s department is considering handing over the income from tolls to a private consortium in return for a cash injection that would reduce the cost to the public purse.