Last Friday I joined Jacques Gounon, the Chairman of Eurotunnel, to officially open the new access area for road freight joining the tunnel’s services at Folkestone. This completes a major investment from Eurotunnel in improving the speed and efficiency of its operations in Kent, that will help both freight, and passengers travelling in private cars […]
The House of Commons returned this week after the summer recess and business has been dominated by the consequences of the migration and refugee crisis in Europe; an issue we have also been working on over the last few months. I was in the chamber on Monday to listen to the Prime Minister setting out the package of […]
Eurotunnel has confirmed that the new security measures at Coquelles in France are making a real difference to preventing migrants from breaking into the Channel Tunnel terminal. The number of migrants seeking to enter the tunnel in this way has fallen from as many as 2,000 per night, earlier in the summer, to around 150 […]
We have seen a big improvement to Kent’s roads over the last ten days since the lifting of the Operation Stack restrictions. This is mainly a result of the improved situation in Calais where there have been far fewer disturbances to the services through the Channel Tunnel, or from the Port of Calais, than in […]
On Monday evening I spoke with the Transport Minister Andrew Jones MP, to express to him the huge frustration that everyone in Kent feels at the on-going gridlock caused by Operation Stack. He agreed with me that the current situation is completely unacceptable, and that new methods for managing the traffic to and from the […]
The current strike by French ferry workers at Calais is arguably the worst in living memory. It has forced the closure of the Port of Calais and the Channel Tunnel and caused chaos on the roads of Kent, as lorries bound for the continent have been stacked for days on the county’s motorways, waiting for […]
Operation Stack has returned for the second time in a week, and again as a result of industrial action from ferry workers in France. This strike has closed the Port of Calais and also, once more, affected services through the Channel Tunnel. I think it is incredible that strike action in France can lead to the […]