WHAT’S THE STORY?

IT was on this date 30 years ago that the Treaty of Canterbury was ratified in Paris by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President François Mitterrand. After July 29, 1987, there was no going back and the Channel Tunnel was on its way to becoming a reality. For the first time in 8000 years there would be a land link between the island of Great Britain and the mainland of continental Europe.

It is often forgotten that not only did Thatcher want a Channel Tunnel, she actively worked with a Socialist president to make it happen.

WHAT WAS THE TREATY OF CANTERBURY?

ORIGINALLY signed in February 1986, the treaty committed the governments of France and the UK to bring about a “fixed link” under the channel. In less than 18 months, a consortium of private companies came together to form at Eurotunnel, the group which would finance and construct the Chunnel as it quickly became known.

From the outset, both governments were adamant they would not commit large sums of public money towards the construction and operation of the tunnel, which was originally supposed to cost just over £2.2 billion, with another £3bn on infrastructure and new trains. It was accepted that there might be cost overruns, but no one at that point guessed just how much it would cost – the construction cost of the tunnel alone soared by 80 per cent to £4.65bn, and in total by the time it was fully operational, some £9bn had been spent.

WHY HAD A CHUNNEL NOT HAPPENED BEFORE?

IT wasn’t for the want of trying. As far back as 1802, a tunnel had been proposed but the fact that France and the UK were often at war at that time meant the idea got nowhere. Several schemes were proposed throughout the 19th century, and in the 1880s, experimental tunnels were sunk at Shakespeare Cliff near Folkestone and at Sangatte in France – much the same route as the Chunnel would eventually follow. Queen Victoria loved the idea as she suffered from seasickness. Winston Churchill was a great proponent of a Channel Tunnel, saying that it would not compromise Britain’s defences – one of the main arguments that had been used to defeat previous plans.

Throughout the 1950s and 60s, Britain and France talked of a Chunnel frequently, and in 1964 both sides agreed to build one. Yet in 1975, Harold Wilson’s Labour government cancelled it due largely to the economic crisis the country was facing.

SO MAGGIE GOT IT BUILT?

AMAZINGLY, given her anti-European stance on just about everything else, Margaret Thatcher was very much in favour of a Channel Tunnel, albeit sceptical about funding – from the outset she insisted that it be privately built.

After she and President Mitterrand signed the Treaty at Canterbury Cathedral in early 1986, Maggie became determined that it would be built – she saw it as a “legacy” project. Mitterrand felt the same, and they dangled the carrot of a 55-year operating concession – later extended to 65 years – in front of potential builders and financiers.

By the time it came to the ratification of the Treaty which confirmed that it would be built, two consortia on either side of the Channel had come together and formed the Channel Tunnel Group/France-Manche which comprised twin construction companies and five banks in all.

WHAT DID MAGGIE SAY?

BEARING in mind her reputation as the handbagger of Europe, Thatcher’s speech delivered 30 years ago today in the Elysee Palace is very instructive.

“I hope this time that we can rise above the hesitations of the past, that we can grasp the excitement of this project and the scale of the benefits which it could bring to both our countries and to Europe as a whole. And that we can have the self-confidence in our generation to match the boldness and imagination of our predecessors who in their time demonstrated the ingenuity, the ambition and the enterprise which made both our countries great.

“It will be a demonstration of how to go about the practical making of Europe and demolishing its barriers. Indeed, we may have an interesting race between the promised completion of the single common market in 1992 and the Tunnel a year later. I understand that those responsible for the Tunnel will get bonuses for finishing early. I wish the same were true in Europe.”

Proof positive that the single market was largely a British project and that Margaret Thatcher deeply wanted it.

Perhaps all those who adored Maggie might ponder these words and ask if their heroine would have voted for a hard Brexit.