The federal government spend almost £1 million assessing whether or not Boris Johnson’s thought of a bridge or tunnel throughout the Irish Sea was viable, it has emerged.
The Division for Transport confirmed on Thursday that the feasibility examine for the “mounted hyperlink” price a complete of £896,608.67.
It additionally spent an extra £1.1 million on its concurrent “union connectivity evaluation”, which reported in November.
The feasibility examine discovered that the advantages of a bridge between Northern Eire and Scotland was not well worth the £335 billion worth tax, or £209 billion for a tunnel.
One further issue with the proposals was the presence of a Second World Conflict munitions dump throughout the purpose the place the hyperlink had been steered.
Peter Hendy, the rail chief tasked with overseeing the examine, stated on publication the thought of a set hyperlink was “a wonderful query to ask”.
He added that “that is the primary complete, conclusive examine on the topic for the reason that thought was first mooted over 150 years in the past”.
Each the bridge and tunnel variations of the venture would have been the longest of their variety ever constructed.
The Scottish Nationwide Occasion’s shadow Scotland secretary Mhairi Black stated her social gathering “knew from the start this wouldn’t occur”.
“Now it has been revealed that the UK authorities wasted near £1 million of taxpayers’ cash on a feasibility examine on its unworkable, doomed from the get-go thought,” she added.
“This simply goes to indicate the Tories’ warped spending priorities. What number of Lateral movement assessments may this have purchased, or nurses salaries paid, or PPE bought for these on the frontline on this pandemic?
“Nonetheless, as daft as this concept was, it nonetheless promised to place £20 billion of funding into the Scottish and Northern Irish economies. The Prime Minister should honour the spending commitments he made and ship that cash to Scotland and Northern Eire to allow them to use it for worthwhile infrastructure proposals.
“The UK authorities stated it was ‘lethal severe’ about these proposals – it is time to come good on its phrases and ship the funding.”
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The bridge had been mooted within the 2015 election manifesto of the Democratic Unionist Occasion and Mr Johnson had described it as “a really attention-grabbing thought” earlier than confirming the examine.
Earlier than he turned prime minister Mr Johnson was criticised for overseeing the spending of £43 million on a proposed “backyard bridge” over the river Thames in London, which was additionally by no means constructed.