• Cross-Channel Link—
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Government Action
FROM OUR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT IMPORTANT talks on the possibility of creating a new cross-Channel link are to take place in Paris this month. I understand that Mr. Ernest Marples, the Minister of Transport, will take Ministry of Transport experts on both tunnels and bridges with him when he goes to see M. Buron, French Minister of Public Works and Transport, on November 20.
These talks will be a follow-up to the informal discussions between the two Ministers in London on October 2. Although it is stressed that formal negotiations will not begin at this new meeting, it is obvious it will have semi-official status at least.
The purpose of the Paris discussions, say the Ministry of Transport, is to "discuss proposals before the British and French Governments for a Channel bridge or tunnel." This shows the Government's determination to explore all measures that would eventually assist our entry into the Common Market.
Previously chary of indicating undue interest, let alone keenness in such a project, Ministers now appear to be thinking that the "new Europe" which is in sight might, after all, justify the expense involved if our trade received a simultaneous boost. Big developments in what may be the biggest transport achievement for years are expected now that the project has reached inter-Government level.