A CAMPAIGN group against the HS2 rail scheme has accused MPs of being "sickeningly ill-informed" after voting through a Bill about the project.
The accusation comes after MPs voted on Monday to continue with plans for the controversial high-speed rail link between London and the north of England.
The HS2 Hybrid Bill was passed despite a rebellion by a few dozen Tories. HS2, which is costing £42.6 billion, will run from London to Birmingham and the split off to Manchester and Leeds.
The Birmingham to Leeds leg will run through parts of Derbyshire, with a station at Toton in Nottinghamshire, which will serve the East Midlands.
Speaking about the debate which preceded the vote, Stop HS2 campaign manager Joe Rukin said: "The MPs who spoke for HS2 were sickeningly ill-informed and willing to spout anything they had been told to say.
"Everyone opposed to HS2 has to keep on fighting," he added.
Despite the opposition, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin, who is also MP for Derbyshire Dales, said he expected to see "spades in the ground" on the HS2 project by 2017.
The Bill covered the first phase of HS2, which is the stretch between Birmingham and London.
Speaking at the start of the debate, Mr McLoughlin said the concerns of critics of the project must be addressed.
He said there would be ''fair compensation'' for those directly and indirectly affected by the scheme and the impact on the environment must be mitigated.
But he said there was an urgent need for new rail capacity and the plan would deliver better connectivity and wider economic benefits to the whole of the UK.
But earlier this week, a study by the think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs claimed that the north of England would not see the kind of economic benefits promised by the Government.
It said estimates on the impact HS2 would have on regional economies risked "misleading" the public.
However, business leaders in Derbyshire have dismissed these claims.
