Boris Johnson's controversial plan to build a tunnel linking Scotland with Northern Ireland has been ditched as the UK Treasury clamps down on spending.
An unnamed government official with knowledge of Treasury spending negotiations told the Financial Times that the Prime Minister 's plans are “dead, at least for now”.
The decision comes as the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, conducts a spending review before presenting his autumn budget on October 27.
Mr Johnson had repeatedly talked up the idea of linking Portpatrick in the south-west of Scotland with Larne, a distance of 23 miles.
The UK Government last year commissioned the chairman of Network Rail, Sir Peter Hendy, to come up with ideas to improve connections between the four home nations.
And due to the physical separation of Northern Ireland to the mainland, the most ambitious proposal being considered was a “fixed link” to Scotland.
Experts had warned the depth of the Irish Sea and the presence of dumped munitions would cause problems for any crossing.
Some had dismissed the idea as a “vanity project” with critics claiming the cost of bridging the 20 mile-long North Channel - a busy shipping lane known for rough seas - would be astronomical.
The project could cost a reported £20 billion, although Mr Johnson has previously said it would “only cost about £15 billion”.
Earlier this year, Scotland’s former Transport Secretary Michael Matheson said the link could end up costing £33bn and he predicted it would not happen in the Prime Minister’s lifetime.
The proposed link was described as the “ world’s most stupid tunnel ” by Mr Johnson’s former chief adviser Dominic Cummings in July.
Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon previously said Stormont would be happy to accept the vast amount of money required for Boris Johnson’s project, but added: “We won’t be squandering public money on Tory manifesto obsessions.”
DUP MP Sammy Wilson, whose seat East Antrim would host the Northern Ireland end of the tunnel, said: "The important thing is to make sure that we are economically and constitutionally connected – that is far more important than a physical connection."
A Government spokesman declined to tell the FT if the project would survive the chancellor's spending review but added that “boosting connectivity across the UK and improving transport infrastructure are at the heart of our ‘levelling-up’ agenda”.
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