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The former deputy chair of the group looking into whether HS2 should be built or not has said the cost of the scheme is now over 拢100bn.

Labour peer Lord Berkeley, who was appointed second-in-command of the review being led by Doug Oakervee, made the claim in a letter he sent Oakervee 24 hours before the review鈥檚 draft report was leaked to a national newspaper on Tuesday.

That draft makes clear its support for building HS2 and keeping its London terminus at Euston, rather than shifting it west to Old Oak Common 鈥� an idea rubbished by London mayor Sadiq Khan and outgoing Transport for London commissioner Mike Brown.

But Berkeley said senior HS2 management had admitted the official cost of 拢56bn was wrong as far back as autumn 2016 and that 鈥渁 figure of at least 拢84[bn] to 拢86bn was accepted within HS2 Ltd higher management in autumn/winter 2016鈥�.

In his letter, which he has now made public following the leak, Berkeley said the 拢103bn cost put on the railway by consultant Michael Byng, who wrote Network Rail鈥檚 guidelines on how to estimate costs, should now be accepted as the most realistic figure.

Berkeley said he had offered to bring in Byng to make a 鈥減roper comparison鈥� of the costs being made by HS2 and its critics but claimed that 鈥渙fficials prevented this from being done on the spurious excuse that Michael was representing [anti-HS2] petitioners鈥�.

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And he questioned whether those in charge of the railway would ever get a grip on spiralling costs.

鈥淭he company鈥檚 track record in controlling costs is very bad,鈥� he said. 鈥淪tarting at 拢32bn in 2011 to 拢103bn today. This is an increase of 221%. Compare this with the criticism of Crossrail which is 鈥榦nly鈥� 25% over budget.鈥�

He said the review itself had been hampered by a 鈥渞eluctance鈥� from officials to look more closely at the costs of the job and 鈥渓ong delays in arranging meetings with HS2鈥�.

And he suggested the review had in mind all along to green light the project. 鈥淚 detected a trend in many of the discussions within the review to accept that HS2 will go ahead, so that every effort should be made to minimise costs and maximise revenue, rather than look at the pros and cons of alternative options.鈥�

In the summer, HS2 chairman Allan Cook admitted that while the budget remined at 拢56bn the cost of the railway was now more like 拢88bn.

The price has jumped because of increased ground costs after HS2 was able to carry out a detailed geological survey of the route from London to Birmingham once it was given access to private land following its approval.

Oakervee鈥檚 review is unlikely to see the light of day until next year because of next month鈥檚 general election.

Berkeley said he was mulling whether to publish his own, alternative review.

HS2 declined to comment.