The government may green light a ‘Boris Burrow’ tunnel from Scotland to NI
According to The Telegraph, a proposed tunnel, nicknamed the Boris Burrow, running from Scotland to Northern Ireland is being seriously considered as a means for easing trade hold-ups.
The chair of the Northern Ireland select committee was sceptical.
The trains could be pulled by an inexhaustible herd of Unicorns overseen by stern, officious dodos. A PushmePullYou could be the senior guard and Puff the Magic Dragon the inspector. Let’s concentrate on making the Protocol work and put the hallucinogenics down https://t.co/ZGLSrzjXvP
— Simon Hoare MP (@Simon4NDorset) February 14, 2021
He had good reason. There are so many problems with the idea that the government might as well have announced they’d invented hot ice-cream to put an end to brain freeze.
Twitter filled in the blanks.
There are World War II explosives and chemical weapons dumped in the sea between the two countries.
So a Bridge to Northern Ireland is impossible because of the tons of dumped munitions on the sea bed, but drilling a tunnel right through will be fine #borisburrow
— HappyToast ★ (@IamHappyToast) February 13, 2021
It would cost a fortune at a time when there are other priorities.
Worst economic recession in 300 years and Boris Johnson is planning to spend at least £10 billion on a pointless tunnel to Ireland.
Of course like all of Johnson's vanity projects it has his own name attached to it. https://t.co/08TcjJJ3WI
— Otto English (@Otto_English) February 14, 2021
Estimated cost: £40Bn.
Meanwhile Hammersmith Bridge is closed due to the risk of it falling down unless £45-160M is spent repairing it in the next couple of years, and an estimated 5000 of 9000 bridges and underpasses on UK motorways are suffering from maintainance defects. https://t.co/3nlQi9B8xu
— Charlie Stross (@cstross) February 14, 2021
The trade problem is because of red tape, not the difficulty of transporting goods by sea or air.
Paperwork is real
Alternative Arrangements are fiction
I love you all but
a tunnel can't end border friction#tradeValentines https://t.co/bD1C0Ta7e8— Dmitry Grozoubinski (@DmitryOpines) February 14, 2021
Because the trade agreement to reduce trade that you spent FOUR FUCKING YEARS negotiating won't actually apply if you drive packets of Peppa Pigs through a tunnel instead of putting them on a ferry? Have you lot been eating the wee mushrooms on the golf course again? https://t.co/NWWaAdZZ7B
— Malcolm Tucker Esq 🕷 (@Tucker5law) February 13, 2021
"How are we going to deal with the issue of a regulatory border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK?"
"We could… dig… a tunnel… under the regulations?" https://t.co/eNEOqfg0hw
— Orin 🚀🦏 (@orinoxide) February 14, 2021
It would take so long to build this tunnel that the pressing difficulties cause by Brexit would have bankrupted all the traders involved before it helped them – and a lot could have changed.
1. It took 30 years for the channel tunnel – 5 from breaking ground
2. There was no munitions dump under the channel
3. There would still be checks unless we have not only dynamic alignment but a legal framework
4. It wouldn't unblock trade, alignment would
4. Ach yer auld hole. https://t.co/etEFDCWAMs— Aodhán Michael Connolly (@MichaelAodhan) February 14, 2021
To fix border check problems in 2021, we are going to commission a tunnel that won't open until 2050 at the earliest, will still be subject to border checks.
The problem isn't tunnels, dickhead. The problem is Brexit. https://t.co/jKFmBgRVBh
— Russ (@RussInCheshire) February 14, 2021
Would be funny if, by the time it was finished, it would be connecting an independent Scotland with a united Ireland. https://t.co/vbhx8LjkLb
— James Doleman (@jamesdoleman) February 14, 2021
