The comments come in the wake of a leaked Government report indicating the cost of the high-speed rail link between London and Birmingham could rise by up to 20 percent beyond the £81 billion to £88 billion range which was set out in a report by current HS2 chairman Allan Cook just four months ago. Responding to figures contained in the leaked report, Mr Peston tweeted: “The £106bn new possible estimated cost of HS2 is more than the entire increased infrastructure spend available to the government in the lifetime of this parliament. “It is a quite astonishing sum of money. Value for money?”

His question prompted a series of blunt reactions on Twitter, with City analyst David Buik simply remarking: “NO!” and another Twitter user calling himself REC saying: “Nah, bin it”.

Others offered a more detailed analysis – Simon Cross observed: “#HS2 Phase 1 is clearly very poor value for money.

“Phase two is just as bad and is a disaster in the making.

“It would be reckless for @BorisJohnson @grantshapps to proceed with this deeply unpopular project.”

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The Parliamentary Advisory Council for Travel Safety (PACTS) posted: “A fraction of £106 billion would transform road safety in UK where 1800+ die and 25,000+ seriously injured each year.

“@HighwaysEngland road safety budget is £105 million.”

However, not everybody was opposed to the project – Derek Sutherland tweeted: “It’s an essential increase in capacity. Forget about the journey times – that’s fairly irrelevant.

“It’s a good step towards more coherent and CO2 emissions focused transport policy.”

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“@HighwaysEngland road safety budget is £105 million.”

However, not everybody was opposed to the project – Derek Sutherland tweeted: “It’s an essential increase in capacity. Forget about the journey times – that’s fairly irrelevant.

“It’s a good step towards more coherent and CO2 emissions focused transport policy.”

The document adds: “Transport investment alone will not ‘rebalance’ the UK economy.”

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham described the leak as “quite worrying” and claimed the use of conventional lines in the North would be a “second-class option”.

He told BBC Breakfast: “It’s the same old story. London and the South get whatever it wants, and it’s all about penny-pinching in the North.

“I would say this to the Prime Minister and the Government today: This is your first big test of your commitment to the North of England and we’re watching very closely.

“In my mind there’s no justification at all for doing one thing between London and Birmingham, and doing something different in the North.

“If you’re going to do it, do it properly. Don’t do it by halves.”

Several construction bosses have claimed scrapping the project would cause “irreparable damage” to the industry.

The chief executives of Balfour Beatty, Skanska and Morgan Sindall were among the signatories to a letter to Boris Johnson, seen by The Times, which urged him to approve the scheme and noted that it would take “many years to get an equivalent pipeline of work in place” if HS2 was cancelled.

However, a group of more than a dozen Tory MPs will reportedly meet the Prime Minister in the coming days to urge him to block HS2 and spend the money on other projects.

Mr Johnson will decide within weeks whether to go ahead with construction on the first phase of what would be Europe’s largest infrastructure project.

The review said savings to the £106 billion figure could be made by having the private sector contribute to funding HS2 stations, lowering specifications and improving the “cost performance of the management”.

In total, £8 billion has already been spent on the project.

Opposition to HS2 is one of the Brexit Party’s few firm policies other than leaving the European Union.

Speaking after the review was announced in August, chairman Richard Tice said: “I really hope this review comes to the right conclusion, but The Brexit Party remains the only party fully committed to scrapping this failed and unpopular £100 billion white elephant.

“We want to invest in the regions and in infrastructure projects which benefit areas other than London, generating real economic growth across the UK.”

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