Outgoing MP Gordon Henderson says he regrets being unable to act quickly enough to address the long-standing problems afflicting schooling on Sheppey.

The Tory was talking about his 14 years in Parliament on the Kent Politics Podcast and was asked if he’d had unlimited power and money what he would have done differently.

“If I had the power and the money, I would have changed the system of education on the Island a lot sooner than I was able to,” he said.

As previously reported, academy chain Oasis ended its contract to run the secondary school last year, leading to a plan for two new trusts to take over schools in Minster and Sheerness.

Mr Henderson, whose constituency also includes Sittingbourne, said ongoing problems affecting education on Sheppey began in the 1970s when the two technical schools were merged into one.

Later the reorganisation of the middle school system contributed to the problems.

In recent years, having one school across two sites led to major logistical issues, made worse by a failure to raise standards against a challenging backdrop of dealing with children from some of the poorest homes in Kent.

This in turn led to a situation where many parents did all they could to get their children into places off the Island.

Mr Henderson added: “The only way we are going to solve the problem is to have a radical solution because at the moment we have 1,000 pupils a day leaving to go to other schools in Sittingbourne.

“Now 300 of those go to grammar schools and we are not going to get that but we need to incentivise 700 to stay on Sheppey by having two separate schools. It is a complex situation.”

The 76-year-old explained his decision to stand down, saying: “I have done my time for society for my constituency and for people and I felt it was time to do other things with my life.”

Asked about the prospects for the Tories retaining the seat, he expected candidate Aisha Cuthbert to win “quite comfortably”.

He added: “I am not being big-headed but I think if I had stayed as the candidate, we would increase the majority.

“There is an old cliché that the only poll that matters is the one election day…I don't altogether trust what the polls are saying at the moment and things will change as we approach an election.”

He downplayed the prospect of a Labour landslide on the scale of 1997, saying the situation was more like 1992, when John Major confounded the odds and won.

On the subject of housing development, he said there was no doubt more homes were required, particularly for young people trying to rent or buy.

He said: “But when you go to people and say we need a housing development here, they say they don’t want it so we have a dilemma.”

He believes Swale in particular needs more housing but lacks sufficient brownfield sites on which to build them.

He was bullish about Brexit, insisting it had produced benefits for the UK if not for Europe.

“Those people who said Brexit was going to be a disaster for Britain need to look at themselves in the mirror and then explain why Britain is doing so much better than other countries, like Germany and France.”

An election must be held before January 28 next year.