SDLP Deputy Leader and Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon has welcomed the formal recommendation that the Boris Bridge project should not proced.

The connectivity review on the project said that “that further work on the fixed link should not progress”.

Earlier this week Ms Mallon sent a memo to Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling on him to hand over the funds for the failed bridge project to the North.

She has consistently called Prime Minister Boris Johnson's bridge plans a “Tory vanity project”.

SDLP Minister Mallon said the reccomendation is in step with calls in Scotland demanding that the investment instead is redirected so money can be spent by the devolved administrations on the public services that citizens and communities deserve.

North Belfast MLA Ms Mallon said:

“It will not be a surprise to many that today’s published connectivity review and feasibility on a fixed link between Northern Ireland and Scotland is recommending not to proceed. It is clear that this unworkable and expensive project was nothing other than an Tory Vanity Project used as a distraction from the British Government’s failings to invest in infrastructure here in the North.

“Alongside others in Scotland, I am calling on the Prime Minister to deliver his long promised investment so it can used by those of us in devolved administrations to enhance our public services to ensure we can deliver what our citizens and communities deserve.

“After almost 15 years of the DUP and Sinn Féin leading Government, our public services are continuing to crumble. Only the SDLP is standing up to Boris and his cronies in Number 10 to prioritise the needs of people over party political self interest. It’s long past time the promises of investment and delivery in New Decade New Approach materialised.”