TRANSPORT Secretary Philip Hammond was urged yesterday to “keep his nerve” as he faced calls for the proposed multi-billion-pound High Speed 2 railway line to be scrapped.

Senior Labour MP Barry Sheerman, who represents Huddersfield in Yorkshire, called on Mr Hammond to “ignore the deniers” and said the North of England and Scotland needed high-speed train links.

Mr Hammond told MPs that opponents of the project had identified themselves and their interests in it. Now was time for supporters to highlight the benefits.

He was speaking following claims by a group of business leaders, politicians and economists that the project was an “expensive white elephant”.

The proposed route cuts across the north-east corner of Oxfordshire between Finmere and Mixbury.

In a letter to the Daily Telegraph, the 21 signatories, including former Chancellor of the Exchequer Lord Lawson, dismissed the scheme as unaffordable.

The project, which could cost as much as £34bn and would initially see a new London-Birmingham high-speed line built, with the prospect of future extensions further north, was not needed, they said.

During transport questions in the House of Commons, Mr Sheerman said: “Could I ask you to keep your nerve on this – our cities need high-speed links, certainly in Yorkshire and the northern regions – and ignore the deniers, the climate change deniers, who have been publishing letters this morning?”

Mr Hammond replied: “Those who are opposed to the building of this line have clearly identified themselves and their direct interests in it. It is now for those who will stand to benefit the most, particularly in our great northern cities, to voice their support during the consultation period.”