No date for a general election has yet been announced, but the minds of politicians and voters are increasingly turning towards the big event.

When the election comes, voters in Kent will have one extra MP to appoint this time, as a re-drawing of election boundaries has given the county 18 constituencies instead of 17.

The new Weald constituency has been created by snatching small parts from neighbouring areas.

One of those to be affected is Faversham and Mid Kent, where the sitting MP since 2015 has been 47-year-old Helen Whately, who is also the Minister of State for Social Care.

She has been confirmed as the Conservative’s candidate at the next election.

We caught up with her when she was visiting The Harrow Community pub at Stockbury, which falls in the Faversham and Mid Kent area.

She said of the boundary changes: “I’m losing the Headcorn area of the constituency and gaining voters around Teynham from Sittingbourne and Sheppey.

“For me, as an MP representing the area, you really get to know the community so it’s actually quite a wrench to say goodbye to them and to know that I can’t represent them following another election.

“On the other hand, for me, I already spending time in and around Teynham because it is very close to my constituency and pretty well connected and, in the past, I have lived really close to that bit of the constituency, so I know that area and it’s a great part of the county that has a lot in common with my present constituency.

“I think the boundary changes make good sense in terms of the geography of the area.

“As regards what effect the boundary changes will have at the election result, we shall see!”

She is staying positive about the Conservatives’ chances of remaining in power.

She said: “Generally, I’m optimistic. I know that the government has been through some tough times. We clearly had the pandemic which has been incredibly hard for us and for the country.

“Thanks to our hard work on the national finances before the pandemic, we were able to support lots of businesses through it.

“Again we are in tougher economic times now – with what the war in Ukraine did on energy prices and inflation – but I feel we have turned a corner.

“Inflation is coming down. The cost of living pressures are still there, but not as extreme as they were when we had the high energy prices, and people will start feeling some benefit in their pockets.

“We’ve been able to do some tax cuts, including the very recent National Insurance cut. So I think we’ve turned a corner; we’ve got a clear plan of what we are doing in Parliament, so people have every reason to vote Conservative next time.”

The political debate seems very focused on the government’s Rwanda policy at the moment, and she believes several things need to happen.

She said: “Many people feel very strongly about immigration levels – both legal and illegal – but a particular worry about illegal immigration is with people coming across in boats and how we control those numbers.

“We want to have control over our borders, but what we’ve seen is that a whole economy has developed around people crossing the Channel. It wasn’t there a decade ago, but now it has developed.

“Which is why we need to do multiple things. Clearly, we are already working with France, trying to stop boats coming in the first place. We worked with the Albanian government so that we could have an agreement for the immediate extradition of Albanians and that has really made a difference.

“But the point of the Rwanda policy is to have a substantial deterrent so people are deterred from coming to the UK.

“It’s a difficult policy, and clearly it's having a challenging time in Parliament, but I do think it’s the right thing to do.

“I speak to lots of people in my work as an MP. A lot of people want to see immigration controls or small boat controls that work.

“The government has a plan to do this. Labour has no plan. They have literally no plan for what they want to do about the small boats.

“The only thing that Keir Starmer has put forward is an agreement with the European Union that would increase the number of migrants coming in.

“I think compared with the option of no plan with Labour, and a clear plan with the Conservatives, voters will have a very clear choice.”

Another big issue concerning voters is what is happening in Gaza.

She said: “There’s a long history behind the situation there.

“You feel for Israel and the Israelis in the context of October 7 and I actually feel particularly strongly because of the treatment of women and girls by Hamas terrorists – the awful rape and sexual violence was completely beyond human comprehension, the way the Hamas terrorists treated women and girls. So I can understand the strength of feeling in Israel.

“Clearly we do want to see the civilian population in Gaza be able to get through this, and again I hate the way that Hamas uses them as human shields.

“And there are still hostages in Gaza, which I think people forget.”