Nine-year-old Cub Scout lobbies MPs

Alex Rukin hit out at the government’s plans to build a new high-speed rail link between London and the North of England during a hearing of the HS2 hybrid bill committee on Monday.

Wearing his full Scouts uniform, Alex told MPs that plans to build lines for HS2 close to his mother’s house in Warwickshire would cause him a number of problems and would probably "ruin" his life if approved.

“I’m really worried that I won’t be able to get to sleep at night at my mum’s house because HS2 will be going really fast on a bridge past the bedroom window,” he said.

Alex also said the plans would affect his attendance at a local tennis club, as well as his journey between his mother’s house and his father’s.

Joined by his father Joe Rukin, manager of the Stop HS2 campaign, Alex accused the experts behind the project of “cheating on their sums” and offered to help them with their maths.

“Because the HS2 people are really, really bad at maths and make up things that aren’t true, I’m worried that HS2 will cost more than they say,” he said.

His father Joe believes that Alex is the youngest person to lobby MPs.

"As far as we can tell, Alex will become the youngest person to ever have appeared in an official capacity before parliament," he said.

“After I explained what petitioning was, he said he thought the whole country should be doing it, because he thinks HS2 is such a bad idea and the wrong thing to spend lots of money on.

“He is committed to doing something about something he thinks is wrong, and I’m really proud about that.”