Relations between the UK and France could be key to resolving the "bloody ridiculous" situation of no Eurostar trains serving the county.

Trains to the continent have not run through Ebbsfleet or Ashford since the beginning of Covid restrictions and the company says the service will not return until 2025.

Councillors said the loss of the route's stops in Kent is having a bad impact on the economy with tourists "completely bypassing" the county.

Those travelling to the continent from Kent have to get to London St Pancras International before re-boarding and travelling back through the county and onwards through the Channel Tunnel.

But hopes have been renewed following last week's summit between Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and French president Emmanuel Macron.

County councillor Derek Murphy (Con) said whilst he didn't expect any change in this stance before 2025, the situation would depend on the movement of legislation and the success of lobbying efforts.

Speaking at Kent County Council's growth, economic development and communities cabinet committee this morning, he said: "I've spoken before about the necessity for the county to have that international link.

"We are lobbying very intensely with the British embassy in Paris to take our cause up before us, in conjunction with our colleagues in the northern part of Calais, and in fact Brussels and Holland as well.

"It is a factor that the extra checks at St Pancras are a problem, and like I say, we are lobbying hard with the train operators but all we are getting back at the moment is we are likely to see a resumption of service in 2025.

"But a lot of that depends on European legislation, and hopefully the Rishi Sunak and Macron summit will actually pave the way for better relationships, and maybe we can make some progress on that.

"It's disappointing, but we hope to see some movement in 2025 but who knows, there could be a breakthrough next week."

The cabinet member for economic development expressed his frustration at the need for passengers returning from France to travel to London to then return to Ashford on the high speed Southeastern service.

He said: "I live in Walmer and had to go to a meeting on the continent the other day in our office.

"So my only recourse was to go all the way up to London across the platform to come all the way back down again, which is absolutely – excuse my language – bloody ridiculous from an environmental and an economic perspective.”

Cllr Mark Hood (Green) said: "The status quo at the moment is we have got a huge amount of tourists to the country who are completely bypassing our county.

"Our economy is being hit because those people aren't getting off at Ashford; they are not enjoying the county before they move on and explore the rest of the nation."

In January, it was revealed some services from the capital to Paris and Brussels were running more than half empty so as to avoid passengers waiting for long periods at border control.

Eurostar's chief executive Gwendoline Cazenave said a reduction in the number of border officials and increased border check times were to blame for causing the company to have to cap seats on many services to avoid delays.