We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

Mr Johnson, who was visiting Blackpool with Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove to talk about investment in the North, said: “The pressure is on the Government to try to knock this thing over the line and we will do everything we can. “We have to be mindful of taxpayers’ money, so we’ve got to make sure that there’s a good business case. “If we can make it work, think what the Eden Project has done in Cornwall, which is not a very rich part of the country.

“There’s lots of deprivation in that part of the country.

“What you can create is something that grabs people’s imagination and creates a huge amount of local pride.”

But he added: “I’m not sitting in the Treasury – I don’t have [Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s] cheque in my pocket – I can’t do it that way. There is a lot of enthusiasm in government for this project.”

His comments follow calls from Conservative MPs to help fund the eco-tourism resort.

In a letter to the PM, Mr Sunak and Mr Gove, the MPs said the Eden Project had brought “over £2billion to the local economy in Cornwall”.

They claimed “crucial” Government funding would “act as a catalyst” for future investment, alongside the £50million Eden Project International has already put in.

Source: Read Full Article