HUNDREDS of campaigners against the High Speed 2 project (HS2) are expected to descend on Westminster today for the first reading of the hybrid Bill.

Stop HS2 said last night people would be travelling from Yorkshire, Cheshire, Staffordshire and Warwickshire to meet MPs and peers.

Their case is heard is to by a committee of MPs as part of a HS2 hybrid Bill, published today. The Government has also published an environmental statement, setting out in detail the expected environmental impact of the London-Birmingham first phase.

Stop HS2 spokesman Joe Rukin said: "Not for the first time, we are completely bemused by [Transport Secretary] Patrick ­McLoughlin saying that construction of HS2 could start in four months, when the current timetable is more like four years."