Politics

It cost the taxpayer £900k to prove Boris Johnson’s Northern Ireland bridge plan unfeasible

Oonagh Keating. Updated January 21st, 2022

Boris Johnson is probably glad of almost anything that distracts people from his teetering political career, but a financial report into his never-viable plan for a bridge to Northern Ireland is unlikely to provide any respite.

The proposed bridge would have spanned Beaufort’s Dyke – the site of an enormous military munitions dump in the North Channel.

The non-existent bridge is one of a number of projects dreamt up or championed by Boris Johnson that either didn’t happen or went ahead at disproportionate cost.

The Garden Bridge project – £53 million.

Three unusable water cannon that were scrapped – £300,000.

The Thames Estuary Airport scheme – £5 million.

The drastically underused Emirates Air Line cable car – £60 million.

Making the Olympic Stadium fit for use by West Ham and for athletics meets – £486 million.

Of course, the pandemic added to the list.

Unusable products bought by the PPE procurement programme, judged to have involved unlawful privileged access for ministers’ contacts – £2 billion.

The Test and Trace project, judged by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee to have made no difference to infection figures – £37 billion.

News of the £900,000 spaffed up the imaginary bridge went down as well as you’d expect. These five tweets cover the range of reactions from people who aren’t down a Boris Johnson worship rabbit hole.

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In conclusion –

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Boris Johnson’s bridge to Northern Ireland isn’t going to happen and we’re shocked – shocked, I tell you!

Source Jason Groves Image Screengrab, Christopher Bill on Unsplash