Come on Boris - walk (or drive) a mile in our shoes

Last week the Prime Minister flew into Lydd where he gave a speech addressing the government’s plans to send asylum seekers trying to reach UK shores to Rwanda.

It has been met with huge criticism from all sides, with the head of the Church of England himself, the Archbishop of Canterbury, decrying it for being ‘ungodly’.

But quite aside from the moral objections to the scheme, the whole thought process around Boris’s visit showed just how out of touch Number 10 is with the issues affecting the people of this county.

We say he flew into Lydd presumably he travelled via helicopter to avoid getting stuck on our roads.

For it has been the miles of tailbacks and gridlock over the Easter holidays caused by Operation Brock which has been the biggest issue residents have been hankering for the government to intervene in.

In fact the leader of Kent County Council made a direct appeal to Whitehall to help this week, saying the Kent Resilience Forum currently in charge of the traffic plan simply can’t do it alone.

But no, instead the Prime Minister visited to play to the gallery on immigration, which, in the grand scheme of things, has a minimal affect on our daily lives.

In fact the Rwanda offshoring policy could, if challenged in the courts for potentially breaching international laws as expected, become a costly endeavour which never gets off the ground.

Can we save ourselves the expense and just use that cash to ensure Kent does not become a huge lorry park every time there’s a problem at the ports? Go on Boris, walk (or drive) a mile in our shoes.