Season of UK-wide re-unions is a reminder we need an Irish Sea rail tunnel

Families and friends are central to Christmas right across the country, and transport is the means to facilitate such re-unions.

This is a timely reminder of the social importance of the proposed rail tunnel to Belfast, so that citizens can board trains at Belfast and proceed direct to fellow UK counterpart cities – and vice versa.

This equality of UK citizenship is a powerful argument for the tunnel.

And in addition there is all the strategic rationale for the tunnel based upon logistics, freight, internal trade, attracting more inward investment, and making Belfast port into a genuine trans-Atlantic port for the whole UK, given proximity of the North Atlantic/Great Circle Route.

John Barstow, Pulborough, West Sussex