The Easter weekend has arrived and with it the traditional transport chaos. This year the usual litany of road closures and track engineering work on the railways is compounded by problems at the air and sea ports.

Some 20 million cars are expected to be on the move despite high fuel costs and the inevitable road works. The closure of key parts of the West Coast main line is not going to help matters. Was it not possible to do a lot of this work during the lockdowns when we were unable to move around?

At sea, the controversy over P&O’s sacking of its British staff means ferry crossings from Dover to France are far fewer than normal. All of the company’s Dover-Calais services have been suspended for Easter. In the air, people hoping to fly abroad face flight cancellations, with easyJet and BA axing 80 scheduled services yesterday.

The Government is blaming the airlines for not covering for staff off sick but the difficulties are exacerbated by a shortfall of border officials, which is the Home Office’s responsibility. Why are the borders in such a mess? It is apparently taking six months to obtain clearances for new staff. Ministers say they will not compromise on security but the vetting should still be done faster than this. Airline chiefs say they told the department weeks ago that matters needed to speed up but nothing was done.

The suspicion is that too many government officials continue to work from home, making decision-making slower. Getting the travel and tourist industry back up and running is critical to an economy that relies so heavily on it.

Keeping the country moving needs to be given far greater priority and subject to proper strategic planning, not dismissed as an afterthought.