A leading business critic of the proposed HS2 rail connection between London and the North says a Bradford lobby group should have taken more soundings before supporting the controversial scheme.

Andrew Mason, managing director of Shipley firm Newmason Properties, criticised Bradford Breakthrough for backing HS2 after meeting an executive of the company charged with delivering the £50 billion scheme designed to connect London with Leeds and Manchester.

Bradford Breakthrough, representing 32 leaders, is backing HS2 – so long as other improvements to the local rail network which directly benefit Bradford happen alongside it.

Breakthrough chief executive Colin Philpott said: “We need ambitious infrastructure projects like HS2 for the future of our economy and extra capacity is desperately needed to prevent our rail network grinding to a halt. However, we are concerned that cities not directly on the HS2 route must be guaranteed some of the benefits of this enormous spending of public money. ”

Mr Mason claims £680 million of taxpayers’ money has already been spent on HS2, yet most people remain unconvinced about its value, even though the Government has published four business cases in support.

He said: “ Surely it would make sense to have an alternative view rather than just believing what a senior HS2 executive tells them (Bradford Breakthrough), after all the Public Accounts Committee found them wanting.

“Bradford will lose direct services to London following HS2 which will be the determining factor in all new timetables with local services coming second which is where the vast majority of the capacity issue really lies.”

Mr Mason says many supporters of HS2 have backed away and warns that the project is likely to go over budget without delivering promised benefits But Prime Minister David Cameron has told UK business leaders that HS2 opponents are “putting our country’s future at risk”. Speaking at the CBI conference, he called for political consensus behind the rail link and announced HS2 bosses had been tasked with finding ways to cut the price tag, to drive down costs and “make it affordable for our country”.

Mr Cameron insisted HS2 was a “vital investment” which would ensure growing prosperity is not confined to the South of England but is shared with the North.

He said: “People who are against it, in my view, are putting our country's future at risk, they are putting the future of the North of England at risk. We need to have a concerted consensus across business, across politics, that we get behind these large infrastructure projects.”