Transport secretary Grants Shapps has said that he can’t give a definitive answer on whether holidays abroad or in the UK will be allowed
Britons might not be able to enjoy a holiday either in the UK or abroad this summer, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has admitted.
The government will next week introduce fresh border measures – including new testing requirements and hotel quarantine stays for some – in a bid to reduce the risk of new COVID variants spreading in the UK.
Mr Shapps told Sky News that border measures were now targeted against coronavirus variants, rather than a means of restricting travel to areas with higher infection rates as under the now-scrapped “travel corridors” system.
“It’s not about the prevalence of the virus elsewhere now, it’s about the variants,” he said.
But, despite hailing the UK’s roll-out of COVID vaccines, Mr Shapps was unable to say when the tougher border measures might be eased in order to allow Britons to begin travelling abroad again.
This comes after Grant Shapps, the UK’s Transport Secretary, has defended the introduction of giving 10-year jail sentences to those who have lied about their travel across the UK border as “appropriate”.
“I don’t want to unnecessarily raise people’s hopes,” he told Sky News.
“The truth is we just don’t know how the virus will respond… and, therefore, exactly, when we’ll be able to unlock.
“I’m afraid I can’t give you a definitive ‘will there or will there not be’ the opportunity to take holidays this next year, either at home or abroad.
“What I do know, right now, thanks to people adhering to the lockdown and thanks to the enormous vaccination programme… we are starting to see those reductions (in COVID levels).
“But I don’t know what the situation will be by the middle of the summer. Nobody can tell from the point where we sit right now.”
However, Thomas Cook chief executive Alan French told Sky News that the travel industry does see holidays as being “likely” this summer, following the impact of lockdowns, testing and vaccines.
“The big risk, of course, is variants coming through,” he said.
“But, as you reduce the incidence of the disease, the number of variants tends to reduce. So we do see holidays being likely this summer.”
This comes after thousands of extra COVID tests are being rolled out in Manchester after a mutation of the Kent variant was found in the city. Four people from two unconnected households were found with the E484K mutation, Manchester City Council said, and 10,000 extra tests will now be distributed.
In another broadcast interview on Wednesday, Mr Shapps revealed he had been in talks with Singapore and US officials about the possible introduction of an international system for demonstrating someone’s vaccination or testing status when crossing borders.
The government has previously played down the prospect of “vaccine passports”.
Meanwhile, the chief executive of the International Air Transport Association (Iata) has said he is in talks with the government about a coronavirus vaccination app for travellers.
