Boris Johnson gives clearest indication he will support HS2, saying government is in a hole but must ‘keep digging’

Boris Johnson has provided the clearest indication yet he could give the green light to HS2, telling a 10-year-old aspiring reporter the government must “keep digging” on the high-speed rail project.

It comes after Sajid Javid, the chancellor, threw his weight behind the major infrastructure scheme, linking London to Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds, after concluding other alternatives did not stack up.

A final decision from No 10 on the contentious scheme is expected imminently, and it appears the government will press ahead despite opposition from Tory ranks and the spiralling cost of the proposed rail network.

Speaking to schoolboy Braydon Brent, the prime minister criticised the previous management of HS2 plans as “hopeless” on Sky News’s FYI – a news show broadcast for children.

“We’re in a hole,” Mr Johnson said. “We’re in a mess. But we’ve got to get out of it and we need a way forward, so we’re thinking about how to sort it out now.”

Pressed again on his plans, the prime minister continued: “In a hole the size of HS2, the only thing to do is keep digging. That’s what we’ve got to do. It’s a big hole.”

Appearing in the Commons earlier this week, Mr Johnson told MPs he would announce whether and how to press ahead with HS2 – a project that was estimated to cost £56bn, but could now exceed £100bn – in the coming days.

“I just want to reassure all of my honourable friends and everybody, whatever their persuasion they may be about HS2, across this chamber that there will be an announcement and a decision very shortly,” he said.

Mr Johnson has previously emphasised “levelling up” the regions through upgrades in infrastructure and HS2 supporters, such as former chancellor George Osborne, have said it would be “nuts” to cancel Europe’s largest planned infrastructure project.

A spokesman for HS2 Limited, the company tasked with its construction, said there was a “highly-skilled team in place” ready to start work on realising the full-scale of the plans if the prime minister gives the go-ahead.

But Greg Smith, the newly elected Conservative MP for Buckingham, warned that he will vote against HS2 in parliament if the government presses ahead with the project.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday: “I was very clear in the general election campaign that I am opposed to HS2. It is absolutely wrong for my constituency and I believe it to be wrong for the country as well.

“I made very clear commitments in the general election that, come what may, I will oppose HS2.

“We are not against infrastructure. We are just saying that HS2 is the wrong project, it goes along the wrong route at a cost that, frankly, the nation can’t afford.”