Boris Johnson backs plan for £15 billion Brexit bridge between Northern Ireland and Scotland

Boris Johnson has backed plans for a Brexit bridge between Northern Ireland and Scotland, it has been reported.

The foreign secretary wants the UK government to look “seriously’ at the proposal, which could cost £15 billion.

The Telegraph reported that Mr Johnson is keen on the bridge, which already has the backing of the Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland.

The bridge would be 14 miles long and stretch across the Irish Sea.

A source close to Mr Johnson told The Telegraph: “Boris thinks this is an interesting idea which should be looked at more seriously – as politicians in both Scotland and Northern Ireland have already said.”

The source added: “It’s the kind of ambitious project we need to make a success of global Britain.”

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It’s not the first time Mr Johnson has been linked to a controversial bridge project.

In February, he said he wanted to see a bridge built across the English Channel, linking England with France.

He also backed the abandoned garden bridge project across the Thames in London.

The Brexit bridge has already been backed by the DUP’s former health minister Simon Hamilton.

He told the Belfast Telegraph: “Imagine being able to board a train in Belfast or Dublin and be in Glasgow or Edinburgh in just a few hours.

“It would revolutionise our trade and tourism never mind our sense of interconnectedness. It maybe isn’t as unrealistic an idea as you’d first think.”

But Mr Johnson faced criticism from Labour MP David Lammy on Twitter, who said it was “beyond self-parody”.

He tweeted: “How many billions of taxpayers’ money do you want to waste this time? Yet more money that could be spent on British people wasted to fix Brexit mess.”