AT A time when our national deficit is still rising - last month borrowing an eye-watering £6.9b - it beggars belief that the Government has committed to building HS2.

The costs so far amount to £2.3b, without a single piece of track being laid.

A report commissioned by the Department of Transport puts the cost for the whole track at a massive £104b, which equates to £400m for every mile, making it the world’s most expensive railway.

Furthermore, apart from the disruption that it will cause to people’s lives, business and the countryside, it will never recoup its costs.

Yet despite ignoring protests and any form of common sense the Government will keep pouring and wasting vast amounts of taxpayers money on this white elephant project instead of improving upgrading the existing rail network which would benefit the passengers without spending an obscene amount of money.

Philip Griffiths UKIP North West President