The shadow chancellor said that Louise Hague, her front bench colleague responsible for transport, will also commission an independent expert inquiry into the HS2 fiasco "to learn lessons for the future".

In a speech at the Labour Party conference, Ms Reeves said the high-speed rail line wasn't the only project that had gone over time and over budget, with others at risk of not being delivered.

She said: "Britain has become the sick man of Europe, with HS2 coming in at ten times the cost of the French equivalent.

"And that is why our shadow Transport secretary, Louise Hague will commission an independent expert inquiry into HS2 to learn the lessons for the future because many more major government capital projects are over time, over budget and are in danger of going undelivered."

She said she has also asked Darren Jones, the shadow treasury minister, to work with industry experts and trade unions "to examine line by line every major capital project".

This would help "make sure that on day one of a Labour government, we are ready to get Britain building again", she added.