THE UK Government Scottish Secretary Alister Jack has claimed the "Boris Bridge" is a "euphemism" for a tunnel.

Last year it was reported that the Prime Minister had told government officials to explore the possibility of building the bridge, an idea first put forward by Professor Alan Dunlop and revealed by The National.

Appearing in front of the Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee, Jack said that he wanted to be "clear" that the plan was instead for a tunnel.

Alister Jack says the 'Boris bridge' is 'a euphemism'... for a tunnel.@ScotSecofState says tunnel connecting Portpatrick to Larne in Northern Ireland would be cheaper & avoid issues at Beaufort's Dyke, which is full of dumped munitions pic.twitter.com/wHG2J4HI7c — Representing Border (@ITVBorderRB) March 5, 2020

He said: "The bridge for me is a euphemism for a link … which is a tunnel. Just to be clear about that. Actually tunnelling techniques now are quite advanced. And certainly to go from south west Scotland to Northern Ireland, it would be less expensive, knowing what we know of the geography of the north channel, it would be less expensive to tunnel it."

Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently floated the idea of a “Union Bridge” connecting Scotland and Northern Ireland.

However Jack said Johnson is "on the same page" as him regarding a tunnel.

READ MORE: Boris Bridge: Why plans to connect the Union should go further

The proposed bridge would have run from Portpatrick in Dumfries in Galloway to Larne.

Several concerns have been raised about the route, specifically Beaufort’s Dyke, where huge amounts of military waste were dumped – as much as 1.15 million tons after both world wars – as well as radioactive waste.

READ MORE: Why Ireland link could be a bridge too far even for Boris