Choppy Waters: PM Spent Nearly £1m On An Idea To Connect Northern Ireland

The government spent nearly £1m assessing whether Boris Johnson’s idea of a bridge or tunnel across the Irish Sea was viable, it has emerged.

The Department for Transport confirmed yesterday that the feasibility study for the “fixed link” cost a total of £896,608.67. It also spent a further £1.1m on its concurrent “union connectivity review”, which reported in November.

The feasibility study found that the benefits of a bridge between Northern Ireland and Scotland was not worth the £335bn price tax, or £209bn for a tunnel. One extra diffiulty with the proposals was the presence of a Second World War munitions dump across the point where the link had been suggested.