A WATCHDOG has been urged to investigate after councils in the South set aside £1m of taxpayers’ cash to fight plans for high-speed rail links from London to the North.

Graham Evans, a Tory MP on Merseyside, condemned the “disgraceful misuse of public money” after carrying out the research.

He has passed his findings to the Audit Commission, which has the power to censor councils if they have wrongly spent public money on political campaigns.

The biggest sums were spent by Buckinghamshire County Council (£500,000), Hillingdon Council, in West London (£200,000), and Chiltern District Council (£125,000).

All are members of a group set up to fight the plans to run 250mph trains from London to Birmingham and, eventually, the North.

Mr Evans said the councils had also allocated officers’ time, legal support and other backing that was “impossible to value”.

He said: “This is a disgraceful misuse of public money.

Councils know the rules and have wilfully broken them to suit their own political ambitions.

“High-speed rail is the biggest step forward any government has taken to tackle the problem of the North- South divide. Southern councils are paying to keep the North poorer.”

The row comes amid growing anger among Tory supporters in the South at David Cameron’s vow to force through the high-speed rail (HS2) plans, along with looser planning rules, to allow more housing on green land.

The London-Newcastle journey time would be cut from three hours and nine minutes to two hours and 37 minutes and overcrowding problems eased, ministers say.

According to Mr Evans’ research, nine councils have allocated £1.17m to the campaign group. The HS2 project is expected to cost £51m for every parliamentary constituency in England.

A ban on the use of taxpayers’ money “to mount publicity campaigns whose primary purpose is to persuade the public to hold a particular view on a question of policy”

was set out earlier this year, by the Government.

However, Martin Tett, the Tory leader of Buckinghamshire council and the chairman of the campaign group, has been unapologetic about the campaign to fight what he called a “crazy” proposal.

He said: “Our campaign to expose this wasted expenditure is just beginning. This is not a done deal – no matter what the Government may try to imply. We can definitely win this battle.”