A Treasury minister suffered a meltdown in a live interview today as she struggled to answer basic questions about a new River Thames crossing.
Emma Reynolds was announcing a package of infrastructure spending on LBC when the toe-curling moment happened.
The £10billion Lower Thames Crossing will link Essex and Kent – but the economic secretary was unable to give the location or the total cost of the project.
She also mistakenly referred to the existing crossing being the ‘Dartmouth Tunnel’, apparently confusing the Devon town with Dartford.
‘I meant Dartford, excuse me, I had a very early morning,’ the minister told LBC Radio.
Asked by presenter Nick Ferrari about the proposed new crossing’s location, Ms Reynolds frantically leafed through paperwork.
‘You’ll forgive me, I can’t recall the landing zone,’ she said.
Emma Reynolds was announcing a package of infrastructure spending on LBC when the toe-curling moment happened
The £10billion Lower Thames Crossing will link Essex and Kent – but the economic secretary was unable to give the location or the total cost of the project
Ferrari said: ‘So the crossing that you’re talking about, you don’t know where it is?’
A floundering Ms Reynolds seeming resorted to reading out some text about how the crossing would connect the North with ‘key ports in the South East’.
‘It’s almost as if you’re reading from a piece of paper there, isn’t it?’ the presenter interjected.
Ferrari put the minister out of her misery by informing her that the crossing will involve two tunnels under the Thames to the east of Tilbury in Essex and Gravesend in Kent.
Pressed on the cost, an increasingly dejected-looking Ms Reynolds said ‘it’s going to cost quite a lot of money’, suggesting it would be ‘several billion pounds’.
But a clearly exasperated Ferrari said: ‘You don’t know that either, do you?’
He added: ‘Is there much point continuing this conversation because you don’t know where a bridge starts, where it ends and you don’t know how much it costs?’
Ferrari then asked about the Hammersmith Bridge.
‘I’m not here to talk about the Hammersmith Bridge. I’m not a transport minister,’ Ms Reynolds said.
National Highways has estimated the cost will be between £9.2billion and £10.2billion depending on the funding model chosen.
It would connect the A2 and M2 in Kent to the A13 and M25 in Essex via a 2.6-mile tunnel under the Thames, which would be the UK’s longest road tunnel.
The funding for the Lower Thames Crossing will be part of the Government’s 10-year plan for infrastructure.
A new structures fund will also invest in repairing bridges, flyovers, tunnels and other transport infrastructure such as roads.
The Lower Thames Crossing is aimed at reducing congestion at Dartford.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has said that the project is ‘essential for improving the resilience of a key freight route and is critical to our long-term trade with Europe’.
Asked by presenter Nick Ferrari about the proposed new crossing’s location, Ms Reynolds frantically leafed through paperwork
Pressed on the cost, an increasingly dejected-looking Ms Reynolds said ‘it’s going to cost quite a lot of money’, suggesting it would be ‘several billion pounds’
‘It will speed up the movement of goods from south-east England to the Midlands and the north, crucial to thousands of jobs and businesses,’ she added.
Rachel Reeves has said ministers are ‘going all in by going up against the painful disruption of closed bridges, crossings and flyovers’.
The Chancellor added: ‘This is a turning point for our national infrastructure, and we’re backing it with funding to support thousands of jobs and connect communities, delivering on our plan for change.’
It 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 range of infrastructure investments as part of last week’s spending review.
