According to a poll of 2,000 members of the public by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 62% of people believe that the UK rail network is worse than those in the rest of Western Europe, and 58% say that the estimated £42.6 billion cost of the HS2 high-speed link would be better spent on upgrading the existing rail network.

When asked separately about HS2, only 33% of the public said they supported the project, while 31% said they opposed it and 30% said they were indifferent to it.

Of the 2,000 people surveyed, 74% said they would use the new HS2 link either ‘rarely’ or ‘never’, while just 3% said they would use it ‘frequently’ and 18% ‘occasionally’.