Pping of HS2 Phase 2

Select Committee Chairman and MP for Nottingham South Lilian Greenwood.

Grayling reaffirmed his support to those gathered, adding: “Let me be very clear. HS2 is vital beyond Birmingham, and failure to deliver it would be a dereliction of our duties to improve the life chances of everyone in this country, an abandonment of our ambition for one of the most extraordinary engineering projects since the Victorian age, and a huge betrayal of the people in the Midlands and the North.

“We are committed to a second stage between the West Midlands and Leeds and between Crewe and Manchester, completing the ‘Y axis’, and it is very heartening to see that the positive impact of HS2 - both the first and second stage - is already being felt all over the UK.”

Sir John Peace, chairman of Midlands Connect and Midlands Engine, said: “The Midlands and the North are uniting behind HS2, promoting short- and longterm benefits and answering the project’s critics to make sure it goes ahead in full. Securing unequivocal, cross-party support to deliver HS2 in its entirety is essential to the economic futures of the Midlands and the North. We can’t afford to let this opportunity slip through our fingers.”