No10 confirms it is working on plans for an Irish Sea bridge

Downingstreethasconfirmed for the first time that UK government officials are working on a proposal for a bridge linking Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Reports at the weekend suggested Boris Johnson remained keen on an ambitious plan for the bridge, which could cost £15-20 billion to complete and would be one of the longest in the world.

The plan was condemned by the SNP as an “unsubstantiated vanity project” and Nicola Sturgeon said the cost should be “spent on more important priorities” – but it was backed by the author of a major report on the economy and finances of an independent Scotland.

Andrew Wilson, the chairman of the Sustainable Growthcommission,tweeted: “I think a bridge from Scotland to Ireland is a really good idea and certainly worth assessing. A great potential joint project all round.”

The UK government was unable to say whether it had consulted Scottish ministers, who would be responsible for planning permissions, traffic management and any access roads.

It is also unclear how goods transiting over the bridge would be regulated after Brexit, with companies trading across the Irish Sea braced for new paperwork once EU single market regulations no longer apply.

Downing Street said a “range of officials” were looking at the idea of a bridge, but were unable to say how many civil servants were examining proposals.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said it was a “proper piece of work” and Mr Johnson was “ambitious” about infrastructure projects across the country.

Mr Johnson has repeatedly spoken about the prospect of a bridge, even though experts have warned that the depth of the Irish Sea and the presence of dumped munitions would cause problems for any project.

The Prime Minister told MPS “watch this space” when asked about the prospect of a “Boris bridge” in Parliament in December 2019. And in November 2018, he said: “The problem is not the undersea Beaufort’s Dyke or lack of funds. The problem is an absence of political will.”

The distance from Larne to Portpatrick, one of the most likely routes for a bridge, is around 45km.

Government sources said it was possible to build a bridge which has a tunnelled section to cope with some of the difficulties caused by the depth of the Irish Sea – a similar design to the Øresund Bridge linking Denmark and Sweden, made famous worldwide by the television series The Bridge.

Answering questions after a speech in Brussels, the First Minister dismissed proposals for a Scotland-ireland link with a reference to the aborted “Garden Bridge” across the Thames championed by the former Mayor of London.

“Boris Johnson has promised lots of bridges in his career; so far, to best of my knowledge, he hasn’t delivered any,” Ms Sturgeon said.

An SNP spokesperson added: “It is going to take more than a bridge to undo the harm to EU relations that the Tory government has caused with its extreme Brexit plans, and given Boris Johnson’s failed history of unwanted and over budget bridge projects we are going to take a lot of convincing.”

“Boris Johnson has promised lots of bridges in his career; sofar,tobestofmy knowledge, he hasn’t delivered any,”

NICOLA STURGEON