Irish PM backs bridge... but won’t pay

BORIS Johnson has won cautious support for his plans for a bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland – from the Irish Prime Minister.

Leo Varadkar said he discussed the idea with Mr Johnson recently and told him it was ‘worth examining’.

But the two leaders could not agree on who would pay for the giant scheme, which is expected to cost more than £20billion.

Mr Varadkar said: ‘I know people dismiss these things out of hand, but they used to dismiss the Channel Tunnel as well. I think we need to at least check out if this is viable in engineering terms and how much money it would cost to do.’

Recounting their phone conversation earlier this month, the Irish Taoiseach said he had also told Mr Johnson he would expect the UK to pay for it. He added: ‘At which point he suggested, “no, no, the EU is going to pay for it”.

‘So that’s definitely not going to happen, because neither Northern Ireland nor Scotland are going to be in the EU. But it was kind of half-serious, half-joking in a way.

‘But I do think at the very least a highlevel engineering assessment should be done as to whether it is a viable proposal.’

Mr Johnson has long supported the idea of an Irish Sea bridge, but the project would be a huge challenge. According to one analysis, a 28-mile bridge from Portpatrick, Wigtownshire, to Larne, Co Antrim, would require more than 50 towers, including 30 at least 1,400ft high to carry the road across the deepest parts of the sea.