Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of whether (a) delivering the Leeds to Sheffield section of High Speed 2's eastern leg earlier than currently planned would require a separate hybrid bill to be presented to the House and (b) such plans would involve the construction of connections to the East Coast Main Line and the Midland Main Line.

The Government is considering the responses to the consultation on the route from the West Midlands to Manchester, Leeds and beyond including how to bring the benefits to the North as quickly as possible. It will set out how it plans to take forward HS2 Phase Two later this year.