High Speed 2 would have a detrimental effect on economic output in around a quarter of the country, according to figures unearthed last week.

Data obtained by the BBC using a Freedom of Information request show that 57 out of 235 local regions in England, Scotland and Wales would lose out if the railway scheme were to be built. The figures are from the accountant KPMG and were not contained in its report to HS2 Limited in September about the regional economic impacts of the railway project.

Aberdeenshire would lose out by as much as £220M – or 1.3% of its Gross Domestic Product – from HS2, with Norfolk East seeing a fall in output of up to £164M (0.8% of GDP). Dundee & Angus could expect to lose £96M (1.9%), Cardiff £68M (0.6%) and Norfolk West £56M (0.9%).

HS2 Ltd chief executive Alison Munro insisted that the figures had not been hidden and that the disbenefits to some areas were being “totally overplayed”.

On Monday the new Transport Minister Baroness Kramer (pictured) said the economic case for HS2 “remains strong” and that a new cost benefit analysis of the project will be published later this year.

She told the Railway Engineers Forum: “We must remember that economic models alone do not provide a full picture of the value of transport schemes or how they benefit the country as a whole. If we had only followed economic models we might not have built the M1 or M25.”

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