BORIS Johnson is reportedly set to receive the results of feasibility study into a “Celtic Crossing” or “Boris Bridge” between Ireland and Scotland.

The Prime Minister is to be sent a report looking at the construction of a combined bridge and tunnel connection at the narrowest, apparently modelled on the Oresund Bridge, which runs for five miles from the Swedish coast near Malmo to an artificial island in the middle of the Oresund Strait.

It was The National who first reported on the prospect of a crossing between Scotland and Ireland, back in 2018 when we shared the plans of architect Professor Alan Dunlop.

He estimated that the bridge would cost about £15 billion.

Last September Channel 4 News reported that Johnson had told government officials to explore the possibility of building the bridge.

Yesterday, both The Sun and the Mail on Sunday, revealed that Johnson remains a enthusiastic supporter of the plan, despite warnings about spiralling costs and difficult conditions, including dealing with depths of more than 1000ft in places and Beaufort’s Dyke, a submarine trench seven miles off the coast of Portpatrick.

In the 1950s the Ministry of Defence dumped more than 1m tonnes of obsolete munitions, including 14,500 tons of five inch artillery rockets filled with phosgene gas, in addition to two tons of concrete-encased metal drums filled with radioactive waste.

According to the Mail’s report, the bridge would be most likely to run between Portpatrick and Larne in County Antrim.

A Whitehall source told The Sun: “There were some people who thought the Channel Tunnel was a mad idea at the time.

“We are looking at the feasibility of a bridge and if it could be made to work.”

The Mail’s source said Johnson was keen to “advance the cause of cementing the Union”.

It comes as Johnson is expected to give the go-ahead to the HS2 rail link this week. The Prime Minister is said to be keen to carve out a legacy though major infrastructure projects, this could involve further bridges, new houses, and fleets of new electric “Boris buses”.

When he was asked about the bridge in the Commons in December by DUP politician Ian Paisley.

The Prime Minister responded: “As for [Paisley’s] desire for a bridge to connect the two biggest isles in the British isles, all I can say is that it is a very interesting idea,” said Johnson.

“I advise him to watch this space and indeed, watch that space between those islands because what he has said has not fallen on deaf ears.”

Work on the Oresund Bridge started in 1995 and was completed five years later.

It now carries more than 60,000 travellers daily, with a four-lane road on the upper deck and two train tracks on the lower level.

Last month, Dunlop called on independence supporters to back the bridge.

Writing in The National, the leading architect urged Nicola Sturgeon to work with Johnson and the Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

He insisted the engineering know-how exists and the crossing would foster closer relations between Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic – Scotland’s closest EU neighbour.

Dunlop said: “As an architect, I have tried to stay clear of the sometimes tendentious politics, despite accusations of being both a Unionist and a Scottish Nationalist ... a Celtic Crossing would be positive wherever you stand on the political divide.

“Supporters of independence should welcome the idea, for it offers Scotland the potential for closer ties with Northern Ireland and Eire and... a stronger connection with the EU. It would demonstrate the Westminster Government’s declared commitment to spread development benefit throughout the UK.”