Having had a quick glance. Derby is a very logical place to put this from an industry perspective. Along with Crewe and Doncaster, Newcastle, it has the lowest land values and represents the best value for money.
Birmingham makes a near flawless argument as to why it should not be chosen from a leveling up agenda, simultaneously arguing it has a massive economy, the highest land values of any of the bids and has limited rail industry links compared with some of the others.
My own suspicion is that senior members of the establishment would rather it was York over anywhere else, as its probably the most desirable place to live of the entrants if one is of a particular social class. No, I wont hand over my tar brush just yet!
Further, from skim reading these, York is the only one making an explicit Union Connectivity link which is probably going to resonate with said senior members of the hierarchy. Newcastle is referencing this too, and has an extremely attractive site to place the offices.
I am absolutely and outsider, I'm not in the industry, and if i was a betting man, it would be a split between York and Derby. I think Newcastle would be a very clever move, but I think its unlikely to be seen on merit, but I very much hope to be proven wrong.
Edinburgh yes, Glasgow, no.
Overwhelming response from towns and cities with strong links to the railways across nations and regions Public to have say with online vote
media.gbrtt.co.uk
I wonder why Edinburgh got filtered out. I suspect land values around the station would be the highest of the whole lot!