And finally… Boris Johnson ‘prepares plans’ for Scotland-Northern Ireland bridge
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has instructed the civil service to prepare plans to build a bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland, according to reports.
Documents leaked to Channel 4 News showed that the Treasury and the Department for Transport have been asked to analyse the costs and risks.
The idea of constructing a bridge across the Irish Sea was first mooted by Mr Johnson and considered further by architect Professor Alan Dunlop last year.
Professor Dunlop said a combined road and rail crossing could be erected between Portpatrick, in Dumfries and Galloway, and Larne in Northern Ireland at a cost of about £20 billion.
An alternative proposal, linking the Mull of Kintyre and Torr Head in Antrim, has also been drawn up at a cost of up to £15bn.
In his note to officials, Mr Johnson wanted to know “the risks around the project”, which would probably include “WW2 munitions in the Irish Sea”, Channel 4 News reported.
A poll commissioned by Scape Group earlier this year suggested that four times as many Scots would choose to build underground systems for the UK’s most important cities over any post-Brexit “vanity projects”.