Julian Smith, formerly Secretary of State for Northern Ireland before he was unceremoniously ejected recently, was the latest in a long line of naysayers to pour cold seawater on plans to build a bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The hypothetical structure has been dismissed from the start as a vanity project, a folly, even “bonkers”, most virulently by enemies determined that Boris Johnson should fail — at being Prime Minister; at Brexit; at bridge-bridging in both the emblematic and literal sense — but also by those with an attachment to fiscal prudence, who know that the Irish Sea isn’t bottomless but fear the money needed to raise a bridge across it just might be. Assuming that the sums add up, though, would it really be such a dreadful idea?
The latest study of opinion in Northern Ireland, conducted on behalf of four universities, including Queen’s in Belfast and the LSE, offers a timely counterpoint to the growing body of opinion that Irish unity is now inevitable in the wake of Brexit. The survey found that fewer than a third of people in Northern Ireland would vote for reunification with the South if a border poll was held tomorrow. What better time for pro-Union voices to speak up for a bridge which would join the United Kingdom in physical as well as constitutional form?
Bridges are not only practical, but symbolic. They connect places, and have always been seen in both poetic and political language as representations of healing and partnership.
When the daily packet steamer between Portpatrick and Donaghadee was under threat in 1845, the Earl of Northampton reminded the House of Lords that they were their object ought to be “to tighten the bonds which united the two countries — not the bonds of force, but of attachment and loyalty — and in order to attach Ireland to the connection with this country, he thought they ought to show a willingness to sacrifice a reasonable amount of the public money.” Most of Ireland gained its independence a century ago, but Boris Johnson is, to all appearances, of like mind when it comes to showing commitment, in steel and concrete, to the six remaining counties.
Most British people don’t really think of Northern Ireland as an integral part of the UK, but a bridge might make it feel more accessible, less alien. National psychology is an unpredictable thing. The Channel Tunnel ultimately failed to increase Britain’s fondness for the EU, but it certainly made parts of it feel more European.
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