BORIS JOHNSON is investigating the idea of building an “underground roundabout” beneath the Isle of Man that would connect Northern Ireland to the UK.
Whitehall sources told The Sunday Times the UK Prime Minister has hopes of ironing out any post-Brexit trade issues with the construction of a network of three tunnels linking Northern Ireland with England and Scotland.
The three tunnels would connect at the roundabout, which has been nicknamed ‘Douglas Junction’ after the Isle of Man, and would stretch out across the Irish Sea.
According to the report senior Whitehall figures previously dismissed the idea as “round the bend” however, Johnson is said to be so keen on the idea that it “cannot die”.
The proposals come just a week after it emerged plans were being drawn up for a 25-mile underwater tunnel linking Northern Ireland with the UK.
Dubbed “Boris’ Burrow” the tunnel could potentially run from Stranraer in Scotland to Larne in Northern Ireland.
The tunnel is one of several options being discussed as part of an effort to relieve the pressures placed on the Irish border in the wake of Brexit.
A report on the feasibility of the plan is due to be published in the next few weeks.
Prime Minister Boris JohnsonOne potential stumbling block to Boris’ Burrow is the fact that the tunnel would have to cross Beaufort's Dyke, where 1.6 million tonnes of World War Two ammunition has been dumped.
The Douglas Junction has been viewed by some as a solution to this particular issue.
Under this proposal, there would be three tunnels heading out of Stranraer, Liverpool and Heysham and meeting at Douglas Junction before heading onto Larne.
A source told The Times: “Everyone knows Boris wants to do this so people were asked to look at how.”
Several senior aides are reportedly against the idea branding it “bats**t” and something akin to a “Fuhrer bunker project”.
A source told the newspaper: “Just as Hitler moved around imaginary armies in the dying days of the Third Reich, so the No 10 policy unit is condemned to keep looking at this idea, which exists primarily in the mind of the PM.”
