A school pupil stuck on a coach for hours outside Dover, feeling hungry, unsafe and enduring long queues for portable toilets, is probably not watching the Home Secretary on Sunday morning politics shows. It is just as well.
To miss swathes of your holiday only for Home Secretary Suella Braverman to laughably claim severe delays had nothing to do with the UK’s departure from the EU is insulting to the intelligence of students and adults alike.
While there are many factors at play — from poor weather in the Channel to high demand at the start of the Easter holidays — the truth is that Brexit plays a big part. Nowadays, each passport must be checked as well as stamped as part of French border processes. This is a physical process which takes time, and these add up to gigantic delays.
Conservative MPs such as Tobias Ellwood, chair of the Commons Defence Committee, are still capable of stating the obvious, which is that the chaos and delays are clearly “connected to Brexit.” As can officials at the port itself.
The only people who continue to deny any downsides to Brexit — from the four per cent drop in economic output over the long term to the loss of influence abroad — are the true believers.
But Brexit isn’t theology. It is a bureaucratic process with countless consequences. Delays at the Port of Dover are simply the more visible manifestations.
Strike woe for students
Yet more strikes are on the way. The National Education Union has voted by a big margin to reject the Government’s latest pay offer, with walkouts set to take place at the end of April and the start of May.
Today 98 per cent of members rejected the offer of a one-off £1,000 payment for the current year and a 4.3 per cent rise for most teachers next year.
The troubling reality is this now threatens further missed school for young people who lost out on their education during the pandemic. We already know the devastating impact this has had on young people — instead of catching up, many now face more absences.
This cannot be allowed to roll over into exam season. The Government needs to come back to the negotiating table with an improved deal so that all sides can reach a swift and reasonable settlement.
Elton in his element
Timeless, joyous and brilliantly fresh, even 286 shows into a world tour that originally started in 2018 — it could only be Elton John.
From 1970’s Your Song to 2021’s Cold Heart, the legendary singer delivered a performance for the ages, more than enough to earn five stars from this newspaper.
If you’re lucky enough to have a ticket to any of Sir Elton’s remaining nine shows during his final 02 Arena residency, it will live long in the memory.
