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I was delighted to be invited to speak this evening.

Because the transport sector is deep in this area鈥檚 DNA.

It was on the local iron, stone, and coal that the first railways were forged.

And today (28 March 2014) is also the one hundred and fifty first anniversary of the birth of .

Just one of the east midland鈥檚 many pioneering business leaders, whose genius made the region the foundry for the prosperity of the nation. So I can think of few places more appropriate to discuss the importance of transport to the country鈥檚 economic success.

I was also delighted that is our after dinner speaker this evening.

And, as many of you will know, he was my predecessor as the Member of Parliament for West Derbyshire.

Another of our forerunners in the House was The Duke of Devonshire.

It is said that 1 day he turned to a colleague and remarked:

How I hate having to make a speech.

To which his companion replied:

I don鈥檛 mind making a speech a bit, I just can鈥檛 bear listening.

So with that in mind I will keep my remarks this evening brief. I鈥檇 like to talk about why we are making a record investment in Britain鈥檚 transport network and what that means for the region. And why for our long term prosperity we need High Speed 2, the first new north 鈥� south railway for a hundred years.

I recently re-read in the House of Commons. He said he hoped to regenerate prosperity and galvanise the entrepreneurs.

That鈥檚 an aspiration that is as necessary today as it was then.

Because, just as when Matthew was speaking in 1979, our central challenge today is the economy.

We went into the crisis with the biggest structural deficit in the and with the most leveraged households and banks of any major economy.

As a result, UK GDP contracted faster than anytime since the 1970s.

And the force of that recession was felt harder here than anywhere else in England.

However, as a result of the tough decisions we have taken there are signs the economy is returning to health. The deficit is down by a third. The Bank of England has raised its forecast for growth this year to 3.4%.

Unemployment has fallen by 6.1% since 2010, with over one and a half million more jobs created in the private sector.

Indications are that all sectors of the economy, including manufacturing, are growing across the country.

But the recovery is not yet secure and our economy is still too unbalanced.

While the economy grew between 1997 and 2008 it was not broad based. London and the south-east grew quickly, fuelled a banking and housing boom.

While other parts of the country, including the east Midlands, fell behind.

We want to grow the economy, but want growth that is balanced across all regions and a range of sectors.

As a country, that means we need to make and export more, we need more businesses like in Ashbourne, that are exporting goods, designed and built in Britain, across the world.

That鈥檚 why we are determined to cut taxes and reduce regulation to help your businesses grow. We have cut corporation tax again and again, and from next year it will be the lowest in the G20 and one of the lowest in the world.

But we didn鈥檛 just inherit a fiscal deficit, we inherited an infrastructure deficit too.

Over the last few years there has been a huge increase in the demand on our transport network.

Traffic on the roads in the east Midlands has been growing twice as fast as the average over the past ten years and rail usage in the region has more than doubled since 1996.

But investment didn鈥檛 keep up with demand. Less was invested in Britain infrastructure than in 1998 in every single year until 2011.

As a result, nearly half of respondents to a CBI survey rated the UK鈥檚 transport network as well below average. In 2012 World Economic Forum ranked UK only 24th on the quality of overall infrastructure.

The result of that lack of investment has been congestion on the roads and commuters crowding in and standing up on our railways.

It has created costs for business and choked economic growth. As the economy returns to growth, to keep our country moving we are investing record amounts upgrading and expanding Britain鈥檚 roads and rail.

Investment that, according to the International Monetary Fund, will improve the long-run growth potential of the economy.

We are making the biggest investment to improve Britain鈥檚 road network for a generation, including .

This vital artery carries around 30,000 vehicles a day but it is congested and has a poor safety record. That means unnecessary costs for businesses of around 拢100,000 a year.

So we are investing 拢150 million to widen the road, speed up journeys and improve safety and the work will be completed by summer next year.

As well as improving our roads we are making the biggest investment in expanding and improving Britain鈥檚 railways since the Victorians. Helping to meet passenger demand that has doubled since privatisation.

We are building a new station at Ilkeston. That will finally reconnect the town to the network for the first time since the 1960s.

We are to turn it into a fitting gateway to the city. Two and half million more people used the station last year compared to 1997. That meant it had become overcrowded and unpleasant to use. So we are investing 拢100 million to re-signal and redesign the station. It is improving the reliability of trains and reducing delays. It will also create the capacity needed to cope with more passengers as the city鈥檚 economy grows.

We have also invested 拢70 million to upgrade 159 miles of track on the East Midlands Mainline. That鈥檚 enabled trains to run at 125 miles per hour and meant not only a faster, but a more reliable service.

We will electrify the line from London to Derby and Nottingham by 2019/ That will cut journey times further still.

With electrification the largest containers can travel on rail between the East Midlands and our ports, helping to cut the costs for business of moving goods by rail.

Our investment in our transport infrastructure is also creating and safeguarding jobs in the region.

That鈥檚 why I was delighted that will be manufactured by Bombardier. 65 trains will be built in Derby, with over 1,000 jobs and around 100 apprenticeships supported in the UK. And as well as direct employment it will also create many more jobs across the region throughout the supply chain.

We are investing to build a modern, twenty-first century, transport infrastructure in Britain.

In total we are investing over 拢56 billion on roads, rail and local transport between 2015 and 2021. An investment that backs Britain鈥檚 future economic growth. And investment in a reliable network, providing the capacity you need.

So you can get supplies in, products delivered on time and reach new export markets.

As well as investing to improve and expand our existing infrastructure we also need to build new capacity to keep people and goods moving on the rail network.

Total passenger demand between the east Midlands and London is expected to grow by 28 percent over the next 10 years. Peak time demand in Leicester, Nottingham and Derby is expected to be grow by a third. And rail freight traffic in the east Midlands is forecast to increase by a quarter.

That鈥檚 why we will also build High Speed 2.

HS2 will cut journey times between our major population cities. Bringing the economies of the north and Midlands within easy reach of London.

It will release capacity for more inter-city services on the existing East Coast Mainline and Midlands Mainline and it will also free up much needed space for additional commuter services on the West Coast and East Coast mainlines.

Towns and cities not directly connected to the line will also see benefits. Network Rail analysis shows that Leicester and Loughborough could have quicker, more frequent journeys and faster connections.

In total HS2 will create at least 1,600 jobs in the region directly and it will boost productivity by 拢2.2 billion a year within five years of the railway opening.

I鈥檓 sure you will have heard some people aren鈥檛 convinced by the need for a new line.

Some have argued that the money we are investing in HS2 would be better spent upgrading the existing mainlines.

We have recently spent around 拢10 billion and ten years upgrading the West Coast Mainline. That has enabled far more frequent, faster services. More than 1,100 extra trains each week and a 50% increase in trains to Manchester and Birmingham.

But just 6 years later, the West Coast Mainline is already effectively full and expanding it further, where possible, is difficult and expensive.

Other people have suggested that we should do more to increase capacity on the East Coast Mainline and Midland Mainline.

Well, the answer is we are already doing so. We have already invested over 拢500 million to upgrade the East Coast Mainline with a further 拢240 million over the next five years and more than half a billion on the Midland Mainline.

But none of these options deliver what we need.

The problem is the existing lines carry local commuter services, fast inter-city trains and slow moving freight. Even if we spent 拢20 billion patching and mending the existing main lines it would deliver less than half the benefits of HS2. And it would mean closing the East Coast and Midland Mainline at the weekend for up to 14 years.

I鈥檝e also read the claim that HS2 will result in slower journeys from Nottingham to London.

Electrification of the mainline means that journeys will be quicker than today. All towns or cities which currently have a direct service to London will retain comparable or better services once HS2 is completed.

Some people have also expressed concern about damage to the environment from the construction of HS2.

We take this very seriously indeed and we are absolutely determined to minimise the environmental impact of the line. That鈥檚 why we have undertaken one of the most detailed Environmental Impact Assessment ever.

I think the bigger picture is that there are 140,000 heavy goods vehicle journeys made in the east Midlands each day of the year. HS2 will provide space for at least an extra 20 mainline freight paths with each extra freight train typically taking 40 lorries off our roads. That will ease congestion and reduce carbon emissions permanently.

Some people are, rightly, concerned about the costs of HS2.

For too long this country鈥檚 track record in delivering major infrastructure projects was poor. But I think that鈥檚 increasingly no longer the case. shows that we can deliver major infrastructure on time and on budget.

We will build the new line for 拢42.6 billion, including 拢14.4 billion of contingency, and not a penny more.

I mentioned that today (28 March 2014) would have been Sir Henry Royce鈥檚 one hundred and fifty-first birthday.

He said that we should:

Take the best that exists and make it better. If it doesn鈥檛 exist, create it. Accept nothing as nearly right or good enough.

It鈥檚 that attitude that has made the east Midlands home to outstanding businesses, to cutting edge universities and home to the world鈥檚 best transport engineering sector.

I believe that faster more frequent connections with customers and suppliers will help you compete, grow and create jobs and I hope that the Chambers of Commerce will continue to be an important and influential advocate for the benefits HS2 will bring.

Thank you for listening.

I hope you enjoy the rest of the evening.