Government does not yet know 'the right answer' to get HS2 to Leeds, Boris Johnson suggests

Mr Johnson made the comments to The Yorkshire Post as West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin hit out at delays to a £100m Government study designed to resolve the issues after the original Eastern leg proposals to bring HS2 to Leeds were scrapped in November.

The Prime Minister insisted it was a question of “when not if” HS2 trains served Leeds but accepted there was no yet a firm plan for how this would happen.

Speaking to this newspaper, he said “several options” are being considered but “it will take some time to get to the right answer” to bring the rail project to the region.

“We will do the Birmingham to Leeds leg, the Eastern leg, but we have to work out the best way of doing it,” Mr Johnson added.

“If you poll the public, it’s quite interesting.

“They are not in favour of automatically deciding to carve up, you know, hundreds of miles of virgin green countryside with a new high speed line.

“They want the best solution.”

His comments came just one day after Transport Secretary Grant Shapps admitted Leeds station would need major redevelopment for the promises in the IRP to be realised.

Mr Johnson echoed those sentiments as he said Ministers are “committed to making sure it gets a transformation”.

Mr Johnson promised that the £100m research project would look into how the West Yorkshire city would be connected to the HS2 system, when the rail plan - that he has since labelled as “amazing - was announced towards the end of last year.

Writing in The Yorkshire Post at the time, he said: “We’ll look at how to get HS2 to Leeds too, with a new study on the best way to make it happen.”

Ms Brabin has said “indecision” is stopping the work from progressing.

“Six months on, we’re still waiting for government to agree the scope of the promised study to get High Speed Trains to Leeds,” she said.

“We stand ready to get this going.

“But government indecision is preventing us.”

A spokesperson at the Department for Transport said yesterday: “We are working closely with local authorities as we take forward the work promised in the Integrated Rail Plan to look at the most effective way to run HS2 trains to Leeds.”