by political editor Paul Francis

Former editor of The Sun Kelvin MacKenzie says he wants a new "southern party" to be formed to stand up for the "overtaxed and over-burdened" residents of Kent and the rest of the region.

Mr MacKenzie, now a media commentator, says Kent's interests would be better represented by a political party that would campaign to stop the south east subsidising poorer parts of the country.

In an article for a national newspaper, he writes: "Sick and tired of subsidising folk from the rest of the country?

"You belong to a select club - the club of the hard-working, clever and creative people living in London and the south east who single-handedly
are giving the rest of the nation a standard of living they can't, or won't, create for themselves."

Describing the subsidy from the south east to the rest of the country as "truly astonishing", he adds: "Why don't they live within their means, or move down here and see what it's like to be taxed until they weep?

"Frankly, we can no longer keep subsiding other people's spending habits."

Outlining the case for a new party, he says it could include a manifesto
commitment for home rule for London and the south east.

Mr Mackenzie added: "This area needs its own party. It needs a leader who believes that the striving classes in the south are overtaxed and overburdened.

"I want somebody to argue for me at the ballot box and not look on the ambitious and the wealth creators as another wallet to steal from."

As to the prospective leader of the new party, MacKenzie says "a natural
leader of such a party would have been Boris Johnson, but he has his
sights on somewhat larger fish".