Corin Crane, chief executive of Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, said it is an opportunity wasted and that the decision is the ‘opposite of levelling up.”

He said: “This is an incredibly frustrating decision for businesses across the Midlands and the North of England and the fact that this two-week debate about whether it was speculation or not has been played out in public, is frankly insulting.

“Hundreds of thousands of hours have been wasted planning this project, community-changing regeneration plans are now not feasible along the route, businesses and residents have already been moved to clear the way for a line that will never appear and overseas investors will be looking at the UK in bewilderment.

“Now, we must start another decades-long planning process to get our infrastructure reform started and businesses across our region will continue to see their trucks stuck on motorways with no capacity for freight and their staff stuck on trains with no more capacity for passengers. This is the opposite of levelling up.”