The testing regime for international travel is little more than a tax on families

With staycations too expensive for many this year, writes Janet Street-Porter, why can’t Boris Johnson admit he’s penalising travellers?

If you’re enjoying a European break, you’ll get treated like a second-rate citizen for daring to leave Blighty (EPA)

Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak think they’re setting an example by choosing to holiday in the UK, but anyone deciding to opt for sun, cheap booze and a bit of fun in a popular destination like Spain, Greece, Italy or Portugal will discover they have embarked on a confusing and costly escapade that will try their patience and cost a fortune.

Is the prime minister’s long-term plan to make foreign holidays so unattractive that we give up, stay at home and spend our cash in UK PLC, propping up Rishi’s sagging coffers? Is wanting hot sun every day (not once a month, interspersed with drenchings) and a baked-on tan, a little bit “common” for Tory toffs? Unpatriotic even?

It’s easy for Rishi to opt for a staycation – he can pop up the A1 to his mansion in the Yorkshire Dales, set in parkland with lots of space to relax with his wife and kids. Boris has plenty of rich old Etonian pals who (no doubt) will be offering the prime minister, his pregnant wife and small son a cottage on one of their estates. Let’s be honest, the Tories don’t book holidays like the rest of us.