Prime minister David Cameron will call on HS2 to reduce its costs at the Confederation of British Industry's (CBI's) annual conference today (November 4th).

His upcoming announcement follows a strong vote in favour of the scheme in parliament, which approved spending to buy property, carry out surveys and compensate those affected along the route.

The vote saw 350 endorse the plan and only 34 were against it - previously, it was suggested Labour would drop support for the project over fears of growing costs and a recent speech by shadow chancellor Ed Balls stating there would be no blank cheque policy.

Mr Cameron will say: "Britain is in a global race for jobs and wealth. Our infrastructure is decades out of date and we urgently need to invest and build."

The president of CBI Sir Mike Rake will also speak about the issues of transport and infrastructure at the conference, stating continued debate on every important piece of infrastructure, will not be beneficial to the country.