Tory MPs face high speed rail backlash There will be a lot of independent candidates up and down the route and the process will start with the council elections next May. People feel betrayed here and betrayal is not too strong a word. These are Conservatives who stood in the 2010 election and produced leaflets saying they would stop Labour's scheme, now here they are in power voting for Labour's scheme. The Government's attempt to divide and rule by putting in a bit of extra tunnelling has gone down like a lead balloon. "If the Government thought that its political problems could be magicked away by a little bit of extra mitigation, then they are sadly mistaken," he added. Another campaigner, Penny Gaines, chairman of stop HS2. accused Mrs Gillan of "bottling out" by appearing to welcome the concessions announced by Justine Greening, the Transport Secretary. "I think she was under a lot of pressure to support the Government's plans," she said There is a lot of anger in Amersham and Chesham towards Cheryl Gillan. She promised constituents an awful lot and she has let them down very badly. I saw her on television during the announcement, she looked as if she didn't want to be there. Other MPs are also likely to face stop-HS2 candidates at the election and the Tory party is bracing itself for a wave of defections from local councillors as well. Those in the firing line include David Lidington, the Europe minister and MP for Aylesbury. His refusal to oppose the project has triggered two local councillors, one Tory and one Lib Dem to start discussions over defecting to Ukip. Mr Lidington said he was "disappointed" by the decision and demanded increased compensation for his Aylesbury constituents who might be affected by the new line. "Feelings are running very high locally," said Chris Adams, a Ukip member of Aylesbury Vale District Council. Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, stepped up his party's pitch to lure disaffected Tories by opposing the high speed rail project. "Ukip is and remains the only political party opposed to HS2 and thus is a natural home for those Councillors who have been campaigning against the proposals and seen their parties veer away from their views," said Nigel Farage. The scheme shows how out of touch the political elite are with real people in the country. Andrea Leadsom, Tory MP for South Northamptonshire, said the decision to press ahead with the scheme had antagonised a number of grass roots supporters and members. I have a lot of extremely unhappy constituents and a number have said they will never vote Conservative again and we have also lost some members. While you never know who is going to stand against you, I would understand if an anti-HS2 candidate was put up.