Skip to main content

Hello. It looks like you’re using an ad blocker that may prevent our website from working properly. To receive the best experience possible, please make sure any ad blockers are switched off, or add https://experience.tinypass.com to your trusted sites, and refresh the page.

If you have any questions or need help you can email us.

Tory minister wants Boris Johnson to reconsider bridge proposals… for a tunnel

Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a visit to Curzon Street railway station in Birmingham. Photo: Eddie Keogh/PA Wire - Credit: PA

The Scottish secretary Alister Jack wants Boris Johnson to reconsider his proposal for a bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland by opting for a tunnel instead.

Speaking during an evidence session in the Scottish parliament, Jack said a link between the two countries would boost the economies of Northern Ireland and south-west Scotland, while also strengthening the union.

But he said a tunnel would not face the same problems posed to any potential bridge project by the Second World War munitions dump at Beaufort’s Dyke in the Irish Sea.

When asked by SNP MSP Kenneth Gibson about the idea of a bridge, Jack 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 Two munitions.


Have your say

Send your letters for publication to The New European by emailing letters@theneweuropean.co.uk and pick up an edition each Thursday for more comment and analysis. Find your nearest stockist here or subscribe to a print or digital edition for just £13. You can also join our readers' Facebook group to keep the discussion and debate going with thousands of fellow pro-Europeans.


“The bridge for me is a euphemism for a link, which is a tunnel.”

Speaking to journalists after his appearance before Holyrood’s Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee, Jack said it could even be the case that a crossing is made up of sections of both bridge and tunnel.

He added: “But I think the best solution if we’re going to bridge Scotland with Northern Ireland is a tunnel, and I’ve had conversations along those lines with the prime minister.”

Jack also said he and the prime minister are “on exactly the same page” when it comes to the idea of an underwater crossing.

According to the Scottish secretary, he has been told by a number of engineers that a tunnel would cost less than a bridge.

MORE: Boris Johnson’s latest dead cat – a bridge over the Irish Sea

He described the plans as being in the “discussion phase”, and it would be for the prime minister to “push the button” and move forward with a full feasibility study to test if the proposals are possible.

Jack refused to reveal any costings he had been quoted for the crossing, but did say it would be “quite achievable” to have the tunnel built by 2030, adding: “Since the Channel Tunnel, costs have come down and techniques have improved dramatically.

“The problem is not about whether or not it’s feasible, it’s about how quickly you do it… If you’re going to do it you should get on and do it.”

Hello. It looks like you’re using an ad blocker that may prevent our website from working properly. To receive the best experience possible, please make sure any ad blockers are switched off, or add https://experience.tinypass.com to your trusted sites, and refresh the page.

If you have any questions or need help you can email us.