Boris Johnson has been delivered a blunt slapdown by the UK shipping industry over his hope for a bridge across the 20-mile-wide English Channel.

The Foreign Secretary reportedly raised the idea at last night's Anglo-French Summit between Theresa May and President Emmanuel Macron.

But the UK Chamber of Shipping tweeted bluntly: "Building a huge concrete structure in the middle of the world’s busiest shipping lane might come with some challenges."

The Chamber claims to be the voice of the nation's shipping industry, representing more than 180 companies.

And in a brutal slapdown, France's finance minister Bruno Le Maire said: "All ideas merit consideration, even the most far-fetched ones."

Asked if the Government was planning on building a bridge to France, Theresa May's spokesman added: "I've not seen any plans on that."

Mr Johnson had already been plotting a multibillion-pound second Channel Tunnel for cars, part of a bid to show the UK was not giving up on Europe,

Now he is said to be considering taking the idea even further.

Boris Johnson grinning with Emmanuel Macron - but shipping firms weren't amused (
Image:
PA)
The first channel tunnel cost £9billion
The shipping industry said a concrete structure near Dover would get in the way (
Image:
PA)

He reportedly told aides: “They are two of the world's biggest economies and they are linked by a single railway. It is ridiculous.

"Technology is moving on all the time and there are much longer bridges elsewhere, including one that is 34 miles long in Japan."

Earlier, he tweeted: "Our economic success depends on good infrastructure and good connections. Should the Channel Tunnel be just a first step?”

A government study has found 250 tankers a week pass through the English Channel within the UK's territorial waters.

The longest bridge in the world, in China, is more than 100 miles long. But the longest continuous bridge over water is only 24 miles, over a lake in Louisiana.

A plan was submitted for a bridge in a tube across the English Channel in the early 1980s, but was rejected by Margaret Thatcher's government.

Sources close to Mr Johnson said the French President was enthusiastic about the idea of a new link.

A plan that was submitted for a bridge across the English Channel in 1985 (
Image:
PA)
Workmen Graham Fagg and Phillippe Cozette as the two ends of the Channel Tunnel joined in 1990 (
Image:
Press Association)

But shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry tweeted: "I ignored this earlier because I assumed it wasn't real. Apparently it is.

"I mean ... who are these clowns claiming to run our country?"

The Road Haulage Association (RHA) said the costs and practical implications of a bridge across the Channel would be "enormous".

RHA chief executive Richard Burnett said: "We're better off spending smaller amounts of money on improving our crumbling roads and opening more lorry parks.

"The Strait of Dover is the world's busiest shipping lane carrying more than 500 ships daily, so construction would cause huge disruption to sea traffic. And what of the impact on the road network and people of Kent?"

Bridge designer Ian Firth, a past president of the Institution of Structural Engineers, said a bridge over the Channel was not as far-fetched as it may seem.

Mr Firth told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It is entirely feasible. Before the Tunnel was built there were bridge options being looked at.

"There are bridges of a similar - if not quite the same - scale elsewhere. Of course this would not be one big span - the economics may lean towards something like 800m-1km spans.

Boris Johnson, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves le Drian, Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday (
Image:
AFP)
Minister were attending an Anglo-French Summit (
Image:
Ludovic Marin/Pool/Bestimage)

"It would be a huge undertaking, but it would be absolutely possible, and shipping impact issues could be dealt with."

Mr Johnson's bridge proposal is the latest in a succession of grandiose projects which he has championed.

His call for a "Boris Island" airport in the Thames Estuary was rejected by an inquiry looking into the expansion of air capacity in the South East, and plans for a garden bridge in central London were dumped by his successor as mayor, Sadiq Khan , on value-for-money grounds.

The Emirates cable car linking north and south London near the former Millennium Dome did get built, but has faced criticism over limited passenger numbers.

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