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What had been billed as a Transport summit was hijacked  after an outburst by  MP Michael Howard over the building of a giant Lorry Park near Sellinge

The Conservative MP for Folkestone and Hythe declared that the Kent County Council (KCC) "big idea" of a Lorry Park at Sellinge would be built "over my dead body".

Mr Howard also warned KCC Tory Leader Paul Carter not to expect a Conservative Government to levy a national charge on foreign lorries (the so called Brit Disc) to pay for the park - another of KCCs favoured schemes.

Michael Howard's outburst at the House of Lords summit put an end to any idea of forging an agreement amongst summit delegates on a solution to Operation Stack.

MP for Ashford Damien Green reminded KCC that the Government would have funded an extended Quick Removable Barrier but KCC had insisted on pursuing a lorry park solution.

Trust Dean, Leader of the Liberal Democrats at Kent County Council attending the summit said: "KCC didn't do its homework. An agreed and practical solution is needed and only then should we go to government to lobby for money.

"There is no agreement on what is needed, and an occasion which was meant to pull everyone together broke up with nothing much achieved except the Conservatives having fallen out.

"Personally I do not believe that sterilising a huge acreage for use by 3,000 lorries for a few days a year is a sensible use of the countryside," she said.

"The issues of Boris Island, Manston and the third Thames crossing, all flagged up in KCC press releases, barely got a mention, though their long term effect on people is likely to be greater than Operation Stack."

Chief Constable Mike Fuller said that the safest option was to get lorries off the road into parks to maintain access for emergency services, in particular to the tunnel; the cost of Policing Operation Stack to the Kent Police Force was £2 m per year…paid for by the Kent Taxpayer, and caused a diversion away from crime busting activity.