Andy Street He said that despite this most recent setback, he is still determined to ensure that HS2 delivers value for money for the people of the West Midlands.

Henri Murison, Director of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership said: "The timescales for HS2 need to reflect the needs here in the North, and any delay in delivering proposed infrastructure in the Northern Powerhouse will be of concern to businesses here which support it.

The only justified criticism of HS2 is that it is being built 40 years later than it should have been.

The BBC reported it also obtained a December 2016 DfT briefing note labelled "confidential" which states that "a significant gap to target price will remain" for HS2 even with planned savings.

This issue now is whether, in an act of national self mutilation, HS2 is to be halted or changed - which will involve halting it - because of the political whim of Johnson and some eccentric advisers.

Approximately PS7.4bn has already been spent by HS2 Limited on early construction and property works, including major demolitions and site clearances at London Euston and Old Oak Common.

HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail, those are the next stage."

They form a T with Leeds station, which is perverse because the natural place for HS2 is side-by-side with the platforms of the present Leeds station, and there are entries to Leeds station from east and west.

I encourage any business interested in working on HS2 to look out for the opportunities on offer."

Those people arguing to scrap HS2 are not helping the north, they are damaging us.

Teams from HS2 Ltd will be visiting three locations in Cheshire this June and July, including Crewe, to talk to people about how the design of Britain's new high speed railway is progressing.

Delegates at a Business Growth North Wales Conference were told how the development of a major HS2 Hub at Crewe will be a 'critical connection' to boost businesses across the North West and North Wales.

The competition for the [pounds sterling]7.5 billion contract to design and build HS2 rolling stock is expected to launch next year, with a mix of "classic-compatible" trains that would run across HS2 and the existing network and "captive" trains that would operate just on the high-speed line.

Leaders of the regional combined authority did not quite see eye to eye when they met to discuss the multi-billion pound HS2 project on Tuesday.