A dig mistake
TORIES DUMP DAFT IRISH BRIDGE BID ..FOR EQUALLY BARMY TUNNEL PLAN
SCOTTISH Secretary Alister Jack has claimed the Prime Minister would prefer to build a “Union tunnel” between Scotland and Northern Ireland, rather than a bridge.
The Tory MP said a 28-mile underwater link would be cheaper than a crossing over the Irish Sea.
However, the First Minister’s spokesperson questioned the plan, saying: “It would be a gigantic undertaking which would cost many billions of pounds.
“Nobody has emerged yet from an engineering point of view to say, ‘Yes we agree this is feasible’.”
Boris Johnson has previously said serious consideration is being given to building a bridge between Portpatrick and
Larne. But appearing before MSPs yesterday, Jack U-turned on the bridge plan and gave the thumbs up to a tunnel.
He said: “I’m very keen on it now but it’s not a bridge that I’m keen on, it’s a tunnel.
“It’s no different to the tunnels connecting the Faroes, it’s not different to the tunnels underneath the fjords, and it deals with the problem of Beaufort’s Dyke and the World War II munitions.” The Cabinet Minister added: “And actually, tunnelling techniques now are quite advanced, and certainly to go from south-west Scotland to Northern Ireland it would be less expensive knowing what we know of the geography of the North Channel, it would be less expensive to tunnel it.”
Asked about Johnson’s thinking, he said: “The Prime Minister and I have had a number of conversations about it and I would say we are on exactly the same page.”
Jack said he believed Northern Irish First Minister Arlene Foster is “very enthusiastic” about the idea.
Some experts have warned the depth of the Irish Sea and the presence of millions of tons of dumped munitions would cause problems for any bridge project.
The Institution of Civil Engineers also argued the Government should build a tunnel instead.
The Scottish Government branded the bridge proposals a “vanity project” and called for the cost to be spent elsewhere.
An SNP source said: “Boris Johnson has dug himself a hole so deep that he’s half way to Northern Ireland already.”