A GOVERNMENT review of the HS2 project launched today presents a “golden opportunity” to boost the economy in Scotland, TSSA union general secretary Manuel Cortes said.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said that the government has commissioned a “rigorous” review to get the “facts” about HS2’s costs and benefits.

The “independent” review will be led by civil engineer Douglas Oakervee, who is a former chairman of HS2 and Crossrail, and is expected to produce a final report in the autumn.

His deputy, Lord Berkeley, has repeatedly challenged the government’s cost figures and warned that HS2 budgets were spiralling out of control.

The project’s chairman Allan Cook reportedly wrote to the Department for Transport last month to warn that the cost could increase by £30 billion.

Mr Cortes urged the government to see the benefit of boosting prospects outside the capital rather than axing or downgrading the project.

He said: “This is a golden opportunity — using a clean and green scheme — to put rocket boosters under regional economies across the country, create thousands of additional jobs and better connect cities.

“HS2 is an essential pillar of our country’s modernisation and will be vital in assisting local authorities and business in the rebalancing of Britain’s economy.

“We need HS2 to run the length of Britain — from London to Scotland — delivering 21st-century transport links which will reboot our economy beyond the south-east.”

Labour’s shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald said the party supports investment in high-speed rail and that an independent peer review was needed to consider the project’s governance as well as its economic and environmental impact.

“We attempted to amend the HS2 bill recently to require an independent peer review, which the government rejected,” he said.

It is expected that HS2 would run through PM Boris Johnson’s Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency. He had pledged to review the scheme during his leadership campaign.

If completed HS2 would connect London, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Edinburgh and Glasgow with up to 18 trains an hour at a top speed of 225mph.

Proposals to cut costs include reducing the speed of trains, making Old Oak Common in west London the capital’s HS2 terminus for a while rather than Euston, only constructing the line between London and Birmingham and adapting the plans to extend to Leeds and Manchester.