According to the Guardian - quoting a Financial Times story - the Labour peer and former business secretary says he thinks the near £43bn scheme could, in fact, damage the economy of the north of England and come at the expense of other inter-city train services.

In the piece he wrote: "It perversely represents a shifting of rail resources away from the north to the southeast commuter belt. All the parties – especially Labour – should think twice before binding themselves irrevocably to HS2.

"It is not all it seems and has the potential to end up a mistake, damaging in particular to those people that it was intended to help."

He went on to say that Labour's 2010 backing for HS2 was politically driven, to paint a rosy financial picture following the crash, and said: "Perhaps the most glaring gap in the analysis presented to us at the time were the alternative ways of spending £30bn."

Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin revised the budget for the scheme, up from £33bn, last week, citing contingency costs.