Lower Thames Crossing: Treasury minister Emma Reynolds blunders simple questions live on air - forgetting where new road tunnel is being built
Treasury minister Emma Reynolds blundered simple questions about the new Thames Crossing tunnel live on air.
Emma Reynolds, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, appeared on Monday morning’s media round to discuss the Government’s infrastructure fund. The major winner from the new funding is the Lower Thames Crossing connecting Essex and Kent, which is set to receive £590 million.
But live on air, Ms Reynolds was unable to say where the tunnel was being built, and how much it is set to cost. She also mistakenly referred to the existing crossing in the area as the “Dartmouth tunnel”, rather than the Dartford tunnel.
When corrected by Ferrari, Ms Reynolds replied: “I meant Dartford, excuse me, I had a very early morning.” Asked on LBC to explain where the project would be, Ms Reynolds said: “Well, um, it’s, you’ll forgive me, I can’t recall the landing zones”. Presenter Nick Ferrari replied: “So the crossing that you’re talking about, you don’t know where it is?”
Ms Reynolds later said: “You’ll forgive me, Nick, but this is part of a broader 10-year infrastructure strategy that we will be launching later this week, and it is vital that we ensure that we improve our infrastructure, which is absolutely central to economic growth across the country and delivering better jobs and better wages for people.” Ferrari told her that the two landing points were Gravesend in Kent and Tilbury in Essex, to which the minister replied: “Tilbury, yep, it was Tilbury that I couldn’t… yep”.
She later failed to say exactly how much the new Thames crossing would cost overall, just saying that it would be “quite a lot of money” and “several billion pounds”. When she was told it was £10 billion, she replied: “I’m here to talk about the broader infrastructure plan as well that we will be launching later this week”.
The Lower Thames Crossing was pitched as a way of increasing capacity for vehicles driving around London as the Dartford Crossing has been over capacity almost every day for at least five years, other than during the Covid-19 lockdowns. The project was originally expected to receive planning permission in 2020 and be completed by 2026, but has been delayed by six years amid a row over planning permission. The cost estimate for the tunnel has risen from £5.3 billion when it was first conceived to £9 billion, and is likely to be even more expensive by the time construction is completed in the early 2030s.