A DIRECT Eurostar Chunnel service between Scottish cities and Europe seemed as remote as ever last night.

This is despite the proud boast of Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott that his tough negotiating stance had salvaged a deal that would ensure Britain would join the fast track to Europe by the year 2003.

It seems certain it will take at least nine years before Scotland is likely to experience any direct benefit from the Channel Tunnel, and there is no guarantee of that. If that deadline is met, it will be 18 years after plans for a fast route were first submitted.

It became clear yesterday that Mr Prescott's intervention has ensured that only the first phase of fast track link from Folkestone to London will be constructed.

The much delayed project - the route from Folkestone to Ebbsfleet in North Kent - will cut a mere 15 minutes on the current journey time from Paris to London on Eurostar.

Work on this will begin by the end of the year and should be completed by 2003. However, the much more expensive second phase involving extensive tunnelling which could speed trains from Ebbsfleet into St Pancras Station in Central London will not be completed until 2007 at the earliest, if ever.

Direct routes from Scotland to Europe via the Channel Tunnel rely on this second phase of the scheme going ahead to ensure there is any real benefit, and last night there were doubts that this deadline could be met.

Nevertheless, Mr Prescott was confident that the financial deal he had negotiated would ensure that the Channel Tunnel rail link from Folkestone to Central London would be built in its entirety without any significant extra funding from the taxpayer.

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