Campaigners claimed it was a “foregone conclusion” that the Government’s HS2 high-speed railway project would go over budget and saddle taxpayers with huge debts.

The claim came after MPs on the House of Commons public accounts committee said the country had been left with a £4.8bn debt from construction of HS1, the Channel Tunnel rail link, due to over-optimistic passenger forecasts.

Mark Barton, of Villages of Oxfordshire Opposed to HS2 (VoxOpp), said: “It’s a foregone conclusion we are going to be left with a bigger debt – it’s a bigger bill in the beginning.”