The Treasury Committee has expressed concerns over the cost of the HS2 scheme.

Committee chairman Andrew Tyrie thinks more evidence is needed to justify HS2's value for money - believing development should be shelved until after the plans have been better assessed.

He said: "We need reassurance that it can deliver the benefits intended and that these benefits are greater than those of other transport schemes - whether in the department’s project pipeline or not - which may be foregone."

The politician is not the first to speak out against the project. Last month, shadow chancellor Ed Balls raised concerns over HS2's growing costs at the Labour conference, although the party still currently supports the project.

Estimates suggest HS2 will cost somewhere between £34.2 billion and £42.6 billion with rolling stock costing another £7.5 billion. This puts total high-end estimates close to £50 billion.