HS2 will create capacity in a rail network that was mapped out by the Victorians, allowing more space for commuter services and taking freight off the motorways, its supporters argue

Today, Boris Johnson has given the green light to a project that, if the polls are to be believed, is loathed by the vast majority of the British public.

Research last year by ComRes revealed that only 12 per cent of people thought that HS2 represented good value for taxpayers’ money and just a fifth were opposed to the line being scrapped altogether.

It’s not hard to see why.

The arguments against HS2 — the biggest infrastructure scheme in Europe — are persuasive. The line will ultimately cost more than £100 billion, just to shave a few minutes off the journey time from London to Birmingham.

The case for the project is harder to make, which is why successive governments have so miserably failed to