Mr Johnson said that despite "poor management" he believed in the "fundamental value" of HS2.

"When it comes to advocating HS2, it must be said that the task is not made easier by HS2 Ltd, the company concerned.

"Speaking as an MP whose constituency is on the route, I cannot say that HS2 Ltd has distinguished itself in the handling of local communities."

He added: "But poor management to date has not detracted, in my view, from the fundamental value of the project."

Mr Johnson told MPs that he would restore discipline to the programme, and he also added there would be changes to the way HS2 was managed - and he would look for cost savings.

Today the cabinet has given high speed rail "the green signal," the prime minister says.

He adds that phase 1 of HS2 is estimated will cost £35-45bn in today's prices, with services running by the end of the decade.

"Together this revolution in local and national transport has the potentiall to be truly transformative for the entire country. We've been lacking ambition for far too long."

Boris Johnson's "cake and eat it" strategy on HS2 and local buses.

"Today the Cabinet has given high speed rail the green signal," Boris Johnson told the House of Commons.

He says he will - in order to "restore discipline to the programme" - appoint a minister whose full-time job will be to oversee HS2.

More news on that as we get it!

Image source, Parliament

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson gives HS2 the go ahead, telling the House of Commons that his government had the "guts to take the decision" to deliver prosperity across the country.

Boris Johnson is giving a statement on transport infrastructure, during which he's expected to approve HS2.

The leader of Leeds City Council has welcomed news the government is set to approve the HS2 high-speed rail project but has called for commitment to bring the rail link to the city.

Image source, SIEMENS/PA Media

An announcement on the HS2 route linking London to Birmingham, and then on to Manchester and Leeds, is expected by the prime minister today.

The government is expected to approve the whole line. However, it will try to make changes to the second phase of the project - the routes to Manchester and Leeds - to save money.

Leeds City Council boss Judith Blake said: "What we're looking for today is confirmation that it's HS2 all the way right through to Leeds.

"Leeds is already the busiest station in the North, we need it to come right into Leeds. then it's that next bit - linking in with Northern Powerhouse Rail so we get connectivity right the way up [the country].

"The connections in Yorkshire alone are appalling. We need a step change in confidence."

BBC Radio 5 Live

The decision to push on with HS2 will not do Boris Johnson any favours in the Conservative heartlands says Andrew Bridgen, Conservative MP for North West Leicestershire

"I think it will be an albatross around this government's neck, the Labour party will vote for it because it's a stick with which they will beat the government for many years to come," he told Emma Barnett on Radio Five live.

BBC News Channel

Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald thinks HS2 should go ahead but could have been managed better.

He says the Conservatives have lost grip of the project over the last 10 years, letting costs escalate.

However, he insists it's the right thing to do.

"We need to get that capacity released on our conventional rail lines for local, regional and for freight and this is the right way to go about it."

The Prime Minister is expected to approve the entire route - from London to Birmingham and then on to Manchester and Leeds but, it is understood, there will be a further review into the second stage.

The former Labour transport secretary, Lord Adonis, who first proposed the creation of HS2 more than a decade ago, says: "I'm not worried that it won't happen eventually because there's no way we're going to build a high speed railway that stops in Birmingham, that would be ludicrous.

"But we may be in danger of having a real disaster on our hands because what I think will happen with this review is a further big delay."

Manchester council leader Sir Richard Leese has been offering more thoughts on HS2.

"I do think HS2 does need to be properly integrated with Northern Powerhouse Rail - the new proposals for trans-Pennine railway services - and certainly in Manchester we want a very different solution to the one HS2 has been proposing for Piccadilly Station," he says.

"As a country, we've vastly under-invested in infrastructure for probably half a century and I think we need to adjust our cash registers to recognise we need this investment."

Manchester passengers call HS2 "a raw deal", while the council leader says it is "very good news".

Image source, PA Media

Greenpeace UK executive director John Sauven says Boris Johnson’s HS2 decision will give him the "dubious honour of being this century’s largest destroyer of irreplaceable ancient woodlands in the UK".

He says: "The continuing decline of wildlife has now been given a boost with a line of steel and concrete across middle England.

"Over 100 ancient woodlands will be damaged or destroyed along with 33 sites of special scientific interests and hundreds of local wildlife sites."

He says the PM has missed an opportunity to create a regional rail and bus service across the north within years rather than decades, instead.

Miles Celic, chief executive officer of professional services industry body TheCityUK, thinks it's great news that HS2 is set to be approved. He said:

Giving HS2 the go-ahead today "can only be a positive" for the regeneration of the east side of Birmingham, according to Abbie Vlahakis, chief executive of events venue Millennium Point.

She said: "To have the opportunity to have the east side regenerated, and we're not just talking about Millennium Point, we're talking about Digbeth and all the businesses down there, can only be positive."

Image source, Manchester City Council

Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council says HS2's capacity will be needed "for the rest of this century and beyond, and the fact it's going to go ahead is very, very good news for Manchester and indeed the whole of the north".

He adds: "All of our commuter lines are full and there's no room for freight on the existing network, so taking the long-distance trains off the existing network and putting them on their own network means we will have more and more reliable services between Manchester, Birmingham and London and across to Liverpool, Bradford and Leeds.

"It also means on the existing network we will have more room for services that will connect Manchester to other intermediate towns and cities and more room for commuter services and freight, so we will be able to get more stuff off the roads."

Image source, Getty Images

Some Business Live readers from the north of England are less than enthralled about today’s HS2 news.

Allison, who lives in Croft, a village outside Warrington, says the government should instead develop business infrastructure in other ways to shift the focus further north. "Not all of the UK are obsessed with getting to London," she says.

"Once built HS2 will cut us off from the next, larger village, where we access services and walk to in half an hour to reduce driving. The additional travel to a crossing point will impact the environment, with more and longer car journeys."

Meanwhile Ashley Tiffen, who lives in Wigton in Cumbria, says: “Good for the north? It stops 110 miles short of Carlisle and 100 miles short of Newcastle with connecting services more likely to focus on Glasgow and Edinburgh than vast tracts of ’the north’ in-between.”