A minister struggled on the media round as she announced £590 million for the Lower Thames Crossing to cut delays at the Dartford Tunnel.
Economic Secretary to the Treasury Emma Reynolds misnamed the congested route the “Dartmouth Tunnel”, could not say which areas of the South East would be linked by the new crossing or how much it would cost.
Treasury minister Emma Reynolds unable to say where Lower Thames Crossing starts and ends, or how much it costs in car crash interview on LBC https://t.co/emeIx508vF
— LBC (@LBC) June 16, 2025
Appearing on LBC Radio, she said: “The Lower Thames Crossing has been long in planning but not really taken forward and obviously the congestion around the Dartmouth Tunnel is a real problem for getting lorries moving between the North and the Midlands and the ports in the South East.”
Presenter Nick Ferrari intervened to correct her that it was the Dartford Tunnel.
“I meant Dartford,” the minister added.
But Mr Ferrari then pressed the minister from where the crossing would take off and land to which Ms Reynolds said: “You will forgive me I can’t recall the exact landing zone.”
The presenter explained that the 14.5-mile crossing would link Gravesend in Kent to Tilbury in Essex.
She was also unable to give its full cost, which the presenter explained was an estimated £10 billion.
But Ms Reynolds stressed: “The money that we are putting in is crucial to unlocking this project.
“I’m here to talk about the broader infrastructure plan that we will be launching later this week.”
This includes a £1 billion fund to fix or build 3,000 bridges across the country including the Lower Thames Crossing.
But she was then pressed when the Hammersmith Bridge problems would be resolved after being closed for more than six years for motor vehicles.
“I’m not here to talk about the Hammersmith Bridge, I’m not a transport minister,” she responded.
The announcement on the Lower Thames Crossing comes after Chancellor Rachel Reeves was accused of “short-changing” London in the Spending Review by not providing funding for some key transport projects in the capital.
She did give Transport for London a four-year settlement.
But Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan also warned that the Met Police may have been left with “insufficient” funding which could lead to fewer police officers.
He has warned the Government against an “anti-London approach” as it seeks to rebalance the economy with more investment in the North and Midlands.
The Lower Thames Crossing announcement comes ahead of the Government’s infrastructure strategy, expected this week, while public procurement rules are set to be overhauled so that public bodies will have to give more weight to firms which can prove they will boost British jobs when they are bidding for contracts.
The Chancellor outlined a raft of infrastructure investment as part of last week’s Spending Review.
According to last Wednesday’s announcement, there will be £39 billion over the next 10 years to build affordable and social housing, and spending is due to reach £4 billion a year in 2029-30.
There was also a £30 billion commitment to nuclear power, including £14.2 billion to build the Sizewell C plant in Suffolk and £2.5 billion for small modular reactors.
