The Secretary of State for Transport (Grant Shapps) With
permission, Mr Speaker, I wish to make a statement on international
travel. It is less than two months since the first cases of
omicron—the most infectious variant to emerge since the start of
the pandemic—were confirmed in the UK. Thanks once again to the
nationwide army of medical staff and volunteers and the huge public
response to our booster programme, today, with more than 137
million jabs administered,...Request free trial
The Secretary of State for Transport ()
With permission, Mr Speaker, I wish to make a statement on
international travel.
It is less than two months since the first cases of omicron—the
most infectious variant to emerge since the start of the
pandemic—were confirmed in the UK. Thanks once again to the
nationwide army of medical staff and volunteers and the huge
public response to our booster programme, today, with more than
137 million jabs administered, including nearly 37 million
boosters, Britain is one of the most vaccinated countries in the
world, and omicron is in retreat. Thanks also to the decisions
taken by the Prime Minister, we have managed to turn the tide on
the virus in remarkable time, while keeping our domestic society
one of the most open in the world. Today, I can confirm to the
House that our international travel regime will also now be
liberalised, as part of our efforts to ensure that 2022 is the
year in which restrictions on travel, lockdowns and limits on
people’s lives are firmly placed firmly in the past.
From 4am on 11 February, and in time for the half-term break,
eligible, fully vaccinated passengers arriving in the UK will no
longer have to take a post-arrival lateral flow test. That means
that, after months of pre-departure testing, post-arrival
testing, self-isolation and additional expense, all that fully
vaccinated people will now have to do when they travel to the UK
is to verify their status via a passenger locator form.
We promised that we would not keep these measures in place a day
longer than was necessary. It is obvious to me now that border
testing for vaccinated travellers has outlived its usefulness,
and we are therefore scrapping all travel tests for vaccinated
people, not only making travel much easier, but saving around
£100 per family on visits abroad, providing certainty to
passengers, carriers and our vital tourism sectors for the spring
and summer seasons.
Let me explain to the House how this will work in practice. For
now, we will maintain our current definition of “fully
vaccinated” for the purpose of inbound travel to the UK. That
means two doses of an approved vaccine, or one dose of a Janssen
vaccine. We will go further. The measures for those arriving in
the UK who do not qualify as fully vaccinated have not changed
since last March, so the time has come to review that position,
too. Today, I can announce that passengers who do not qualify as
fully vaccinated will no longer be required to do a day 8 test
after arrival or to self-isolate. They will still need to fill
out a passenger locator form to demonstrate proof of a negative
covid test taken two days before they travel, and they must still
take a post-arrival PCR test. This is a proportionate system that
moves us a step closer to normality while maintaining vital
public health protections.
For kids travelling to the UK, under-18s will continue to be
treated as eligible fully vaccinated passengers, which means that
they will not face any tests at the UK border. Today I am pleased
to confirm that from 3 February, 12 to 15-year-olds in England
will be able to prove their vaccination status via the digital
NHS pass for international outbound travel. Again, this should
help families to plan holidays for February half-term.
Reconnecting with key markets not only boosts the UK economy but
will help the hard-hit aviation sector to take back to the skies,
so I can also confirm that from 4 am on 11 February we will
recognise, at the UK border, vaccine certificates from 16 further
nations, including countries such as China and Mexico, bringing
the vaccine recognition total to more than 180 countries and
territories worldwide.
One consequence of covid and of rapidly changing infection
patterns across the world has been a border regime that, while
necessary, has at times been complex, confusing and very
difficult to navigate. That has been a challenge for many people
who have been travelling over the past two years, so we will also
simplify the passenger locator form, making it quicker and easier
to complete, and from the end of February we will also make it
more convenient by giving people an extra day to fill it out
before they travel. Although the option for a red list of
countries will remain in place to provide a first line of defence
against future covid variants of concern arriving from other
countries, we are looking to replace the managed quarantine
system with other contingency measures, including home isolation,
provided that we can develop new ways to ensure high levels of
compliance. In the meantime, our contingency measures remain
available. As the House knows, there are currently no countries
on the red list. However, I must make it clear that those
contingency measures will be applied only if we are particularly
concerned about a variant of concern that poses a substantial
risk—one that is even greater than omicron.
The UK Health Security Agency will continue to monitor threats
and will maintain a highly effective surveillance capacity,
monitoring covid infections overseas. But I can announce that,
over time, we intend to move away from blanket border measures to
a more sophisticated and targeted global surveillance system. I
also commit us to developing a full toolbox of contingency
options to provide more certainty on how we will respond against
future variants. The Government will set out our strategy,
including how we will deal with any future new strains of the
virus, next month. We will continue to work with international
partners, including the World Health Organisation, to help all
countries to achieve a level of genomic sequencing to monitor
variants that is much closer to our own world-leading
capacity.
We are moving into a new phase of the fight against covid.
Instead of protecting the UK from a pandemic, our future depends
on our living with endemic covid, just as we live with flu, for
example. We will set out our strategy for that transition in the
spring. But as we navigate our recovery, and as we return to more
normal travel next month, our advice to all eligible adults who
have not been vaccinated stays the same: please get jabbed as
soon as possible, and if you have had two jabs, please get
boosted. I have recently been speaking to many of my opposite
numbers around the world, and they have made it clear to me that
regardless of what we do, they are very likely, by this summer,
to require that people have had the booster jab. So my advice to
anyone who wishes to travel this year, including during the
summer, is: do not leave it too late to get your booster as you
are very likely to be required to have had it by the third
country that you are flying to.
We already have one of the most open economies and societies in
Europe, with the result that our GDP has outpaced that of other
G7 countries. With the changes announced today, we have one of
the most open travel sectors in the world. Of course we know that
covid can spring surprises, but everybody should now feel
confident about booking holidays, business trips, and visits to
families and friends abroad. Be in no doubt: it is only because
the Government got the big calls right—on vaccination, on
boosters and on dealing with omicron—that we can now open up
travel and declare that Britain is open for business. Today we
are setting Britain free. I commend this statement to the
House.
4.04pm
(Sheffield, Heeley) (Lab)
I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of the
statement. The aviation industry is a critical part of the
economy, supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs across the UK,
but the Government’s haphazard approach and their refusal to
grant it sector-specific support have caused it real damage. The
UK’s aviation sector has experienced a slower recovery than any
of our European counterparts and had more than 60,000 job losses
by summer last year. It is baffling that the Government did not
do more to support it as a strategic sector and potentially
attach conditions for transition to net zero, as countries such
as France and Germany did.
Too often, the Government’s indecisive and chaotic approach to
each wave of covid infections has failed to keep the country safe
while causing uncertainty for the travelling public and for
business. Each time a new variant has emerged, the Government
have taken a different approach to border controls and
restrictions. We all want to see safe international travel and
the protection of public health, and that is precisely why the
public finally deserve to hear in full how Ministers intend to
develop a comprehensive, easily understandable plan to ensure
that that can happen in the months ahead. We must avoid the sheer
absurdity of the Secretary of State announcing one set of
restrictions before promptly scrapping it and announcing a
completely different regime. Businesses and the public should
have clarity about what changes the Government will likely make
in the event of a new variant and not have to wait until 5 pm on
a Saturday night for new measures required on a Monday morning.
That is why it is welcome that the Government will finally
produce a plan to allow the travel industry and the public the
certainty that they need. Labour recently outlined its plan on
the action needed to learn to live well with covid and protect
lives and livelihoods and help avoid harsh restrictions in future
waves. That is critical when it comes to the travel industry.
As the Secretary of State said, it is inevitable that another
variant of concern will emerge. With omicron, the Government’s
plan was upended, proving that it was simply not fit for purpose.
They must learn lessons and outline a framework to guide future
decision making and detect future variants. Therefore, when the
Secretary of State publishes his plan, will he include the data
that will guide the approach to future variants and detail the
economic, wellbeing and equality impact of each scenario? Given
that only last week the Health Secretary said that testing will
remain part of our walls of surveillance, does he agree that we
should build up the UK’s sovereign capability to ensure that we
always have a supply of tests when we need them? Has he
considered the merits of a surveillance system to detect possible
future variants?
Last month, the Secretary of State confirmed to me that he would
raise my concerns and those of the Competition and Markets
Authority about the PCR market with the Health Secretary. Will he
update the House on what progress he has made in cleaning up that
market for future travellers? I would also be grateful for his
confirmation of whether the passenger locator form will be
available in other languages in the future.
The announcement is also a visible reminder of another stark
truth: in an era of global international travel, no one is safe
until everyone is safe. In the UK, we have learnt that lesson the
hard way. If we are to break the endless cycle of new variants,
we must vaccinate the world, yet Ministers simply have not met
the commitments made last summer at the G7 to get the vaccine
rolled out to other parts of the globe; instead they cut the
overseas aid budget. Will the Secretary of State outline what
steps the Government are taking to deliver on those measures
committed to at the G7?
Living with covid cannot be just an empty slogan with no plan.
That is why we need to properly prepare and protect our lives and
livelihoods in the future. It is time that Ministers finally gave
passengers, industry and communities the security and stability
that they deserve.
I thank the hon. Lady very much for—I think—welcoming the
statement. I understand that she has not been in post for very
long, but she will be aware of how her predecessors
simultaneously called for us to tighten up and close the borders
while relaxing and opening them, often on the same day or a few
days apart. I understand that she has recently come to the post,
but, if she does not mind my suggestion, there is one thing that
she can do current day. She may be able to speak to her Welsh
Labour governmental counterparts, who are a constant drag on
opening up aviation. I hear that she is very keen that we move
ahead with today’s plan; I hope she will be able to assist by
persuading them to move a little more promptly.
The hon. Member quite rightly says that we need a toolbox to
respond, as I mentioned in the statement. She is absolutely right
about that; we do need a toolbox going forward, which is a
question not just for the UK. This morning I was talking to the
chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, who co-chairs a
World Health Organisation body working exactly on the global
response. One of the most important things to stress in my
statement, which might have been missed, is that we believe the
time is right to move from individuals being checked as they come
over our border—as we know, whatever the variant, eventually it
gets in, as every country has found—to a global system of
surveillance that is every bit as good as what we have here.
“World leading” is applied often in the UK, but we genuinely have
a world-leading version of surveillance, through the amount of
coronavirus testing we can do with genome sequencing, and we are
helping other countries through practical applications to catch
up.
The hon. Member also asked what the Government are doing to
honour the bid we made at the G7 and elsewhere on coronavirus. I
gently point out that the AstraZeneca vaccine, developed by
Oxford, has been used in more arms than any other vaccine in the
world—I think I am right in saying that about 2.5 billion people
have been vaccinated with it. That is a huge contribution, in
addition to COVAX and all the other donations that we have made
and will continue to make.
I am pleased to hear, I think, that the whole House welcomes the
plan to unlock and to set Britain free.
(Bexhill and Battle) (Con)
Not only is today’s announcement another example of our living
with covid; this is also a landmark day for international travel,
a sector that has been absolutely decimated over the last couple
of years. Today’s news is surely the evidence it needs to show
that people should now feel confident to book with certainty.
With that in mind, will the Secretary of State ensure a culture
across Whitehall so that if there are bumps in the road,
international travel will not be the sector that has to be made
an example of, and so that we continue to support international
travel and all the fantastic people who work in it?
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. As we have learned more about
the pandemic, as it becomes endemic, it is quite right that our
response should be different—a moment ago I mentioned shifting
from individual testing at the border to a global system of
testing—so I do give him that commitment. We are now looking to
work with a new toolbox that will help to set out a framework. We
will of course always act quickly if we have to, but I believe
that the days of having to go back to big lockdowns at the
borders are past.
(Paisley and Renfrewshire
North) (SNP)
I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of his
statement. Once again, though, we have an announcement on
coronavirus restrictions being made to the press before
Parliament. While the Government, and particularly this Secretary
of State, are desperately trying to save the Prime Minister’s
skin with announcements such as this or the removal of plan B
restrictions generally, Parliament is repeatedly cut out of the
loop, as the Government throw out policies to placate their
base.
However, we have reached the omicron peak a little earlier than
projected. Indeed, today in Scotland nightclubs can reopen, while
the caps on indoor events, table service requirements for venues
selling alcohol and social distancing have also been removed.
However, as the Secretary of State acknowledged, the revised
requirements that he has announced will apply to England only.
What discussions has he had with colleagues in the devolved
Administrations about the measures in his statement, and how did
they factor into his decision? The devolved Administrations were
consulted very late on previous changes to travel regulations and
not given adequate time to look over the data and announce a
decision simultaneously.
The Secretary of State proposes to remove the requirement to test
on arrival, but he will surely accept that regular lateral flow
testing is still imperative in identifying and tracing cases more
generally, and allowing everyone to travel safely. What
representations has he made to his colleagues to ensure that LFTs
remain free on request for everyone, regardless of income? Can he
also tell us a bit more—it has been asked about and I do not
think he answered—about what mechanism will be put in place to
monitor possible new variants, now that testing is no longer in
place?
Finally, the aviation industry is still in the same position on
the sector-specific support promised by the Government nearly two
years ago. The impact of covid on travelling patterns and
customer behaviour will not end with today’s statement, so what
plan does the Transport Secretary have to fulfil the promises
made to the sector at the start of the pandemic for real,
targeted Government support? The job retention scheme was not
enough for the 3,000 people in my constituency who lost their
jobs, or for those who faced fire and rehire by companies such as
Menzies Aviation and British Airways.
I just want the hon. Gentleman to know that, through the UK
Health Security Agency, the four chief medical officers were
involved in studying the data and reaching this conclusion. I
also spoke this morning to a member of the Scottish National
party Government, , about these measures, so
there has been that communication.
The hon. Gentleman asked, as he often does, about the support. It
has now reached £8 billion for the aviation sector. We have had
not just the job retention programme but loans, in addition to
assistance to those on the ground. I ask him to look a little
closer to home, because both Edinburgh and Glasgow airports have
criticised the SNP Government for refusing even to meet them.
They have said that that is in stark contrast to the proactive
approach of the UK Government, and the Scottish Passenger Agents’
Association has said that the industry has been “sacrificed” by
the SNP, so I do not think we want to be taking too many lectures
about support. Support comes from getting airlines back in the
sky.
(Brigg and Goole) (Con)
There has been nothing particularly unusual about the constantly
changing rules in England—that has been replicated all around the
world—but one thing that has been consistent throughout is the
World Health Organisation’s advice that travel restrictions and
border closures are not necessary because they do not prevent the
spread of this virus or variants, so I welcome today’s statement.
Of course, many of our popular holiday destinations in North
America and in Europe will continue to require testing of people
from third countries, so what discussions is the Transport
Secretary having with other countries to encourage them to take
the sensible approach that we are taking here in England?
I am in constant contact with my equivalent numbers around the
world. We are having frequent conversations, in particular with
G7 countries—we are, of course, chairing the presidency of the
G7—with which I speak regularly. The biggest thing that could
happen elsewhere is for them to reach our level of booster
protection in particular. Our 37 million booster jabs have
provided us with a wall of protection. Once that is available
elsewhere, that will help to get international travel moving even
faster.
(Exeter) (Lab)
I warmly welcome today’s announcement. As the Secretary of State
knows, the Transport Committee has been unanimous in calling for
this for some time. Could he explain, though, why he is keeping
the passenger locator form? It is a massive irritant to people.
It is much longer than the EU form and is very complicated. I
hope he is not keeping it because he is relaxing the rules for
the unvaccinated. That would be very unfair on the vaccinated.
Will he reassure this House that, given what the hon. Member for
Brigg and Goole () has said—namely, that
compared with domestic health measures, these onerous testing
requirements and draconian travel restrictions have been shown to
have absolutely zero impact on the spread of covid and omicron
over the past two years in this country—the Government will never
resort to this policy again?
I appreciate the right hon. Gentleman’s comments. I also heard
him making approving noises while I made my statement. He will
want to speak to his Front-Bench colleagues, who, unlike
Government Members, have consistently wanted us to go further and
faster on closing the borders. We have tried to balance it
against the critical nature of our island status as a nation.
The right hon. Gentleman asks a very good question about the
passenger locator form and why we are keeping it. Members may not
be aware that it is our only way of distinguishing between those
who are vaccinated and those who are unvaccinated when they use
e-gates to come into this country. A lot of work has been done to
automate the e-gate so that it reads the passport number, refers
back to the passenger locator form and knows whether that
individual has had to take a pre-departure test—which people who
have not been vaccinated have to take—and, indeed, whether they
have to take a day 2 test. It is there for a critical reason. I
entirely agree with the right hon. Gentleman about the complexity
of the passenger locator form, and I committed in my statement to
going back through it and simplifying it, which is much easier to
do now that we have the status of fully vaccinated people not
requiring any tests at all.
(Crawley) (Con)
My sincere thanks to the Government for these measures to reduce
significantly the testing requirements for international travel
during covid-19. As the Secretary of State has correctly
mentioned, other jurisdictions around the world will require
British travellers entering those countries and territories to do
testing. Will he continue to monitor those testing companies in
this country that, frankly, have been ripping off many customers
and providing appalling service? One example affecting a number
of my constituents is Chronomics. People have paid a lot of money
to it and have waited in many cases more than a week to get test
results back.
I absolutely commit to doing that. The system of testing is run
by our colleagues at the Department of Health and Social Care,
and I share the frustration that the public have, as I know do
colleagues at the Department of Health and Social Care, that on
occasions these companies have in some cases not behaved
appropriately. The vast majority of the time, it should be said,
they have provided excellent private sector provision, without
which we would not have had capacity within the NHS, but I share
my hon. Friend’s concern, and I know that colleagues at the
Department of Health and Social Care are on the case.
(Kingston upon Hull North)
(Lab)
It is right that the Secretary of State said in his statement
that the border at times, while necessary, has been
“complex, confusing and very difficult to navigate”.
That is fair. I highlight that, on a visit to Heathrow airport
with the Home Affairs Committee last year, we heard about the
frustration and the lack of engagement with the industry and
trade unions by the Government on the regimes they were bringing
in. Will the Secretary of State comment on the long-term plans to
fully engage with unions and the industry to keep the border
safe?
The right hon. Lady is clearly right to say that it was complex,
confusing and difficult, as I mentioned in my statement. That was
by necessity in many cases: we had to act over a weekend, and we
had to change the law in a matter of four hours with the mink
variant, I recall. That has necessitated a lot of discussions. I
want to let her know that I have been in constant contact with,
for example, Heathrow and the airlines. The aviation Minister, my
hon. Friend the Member for Witney (), is doing that day in, day
out, and we commit to redouble our efforts with them. Today is a
watershed moment. Those are not my words, but those of Airlines
UK, which has said that this is a real opportunity for the
industry to get back on its feet and back into the air.
(Winchester) (Con)
When it comes to international travel, Her Majesty’s Government
can obviously control only so much. I warmly welcome the
excellent Secretary of State’s announcement today, which puts
inbound international travel in the best place it has been for
two years. I am especially grateful—as he knows, I raised this
issue in the House last week with the Prime Minister—as are many
of my constituents with half term and Easter plans, that 12 to
15-year-olds will be able to prove their vaccination status via
the digital NHS pass from 3 February, as the Secretary of State
said in his statement. Can I ask him how practically that will
happen, given that under-16s are currently barred from accessing
the NHS app at all? What about young people who have had one jab
and a recent infection? How will they be able to prove that
status? Some practical examples, please.
On the NHS pass, my hon. Friend is right that 12 to 15-year-olds
have not been able to access it up to now. They will be able to
access that in time for half term. So they will be able to show
their status or, indeed print it out in advance. Up to now, they
have had to call 119 and order it. That system will change, which
I know he will be pleased about.
The situation of people who have had a jab and then caught
coronavirus and are then potentially in a position of natural
immunity will continue in the short term to be looked at on a
case-by-case basis, but we recognise that is an issue. I have
spoken to the chief medical officer and the chief exec of the UK
Health Security Agency as recently as today on that issue, and
the ideal will be in a February review to move more towards a
system of being able to accept natural immunisation. There is
more work to be done on a technical level before that can
happen.
(Oxford West and Abingdon)
(LD)
The Secretary of State is totally right that covid can spring
surprises—in new variants, more often than not. There is one way
we can ensure fewer new variants, and that is to vaccinate the
world, but we are a long way away from that. In low-income
countries, just 10% of people have had two doses. What
discussions has he had with Cabinet colleagues to ensure we live
up to the 100 million doses that we have pledged to COVAX? Only
30 million have actually been deployed, and we have only six
months left.
The hon. Lady is absolutely right that we are not safe until
everyone has been vaccinated and boosted, as well. I do not think
any country in the world can claim a better record on this, not
least because, as I mentioned, we have invented the Oxford jab,
in part thanks to money that the taxpayer and this Government put
in. That has gone on to vaccinate 2.5 billion people, many of
them in developing nations, with the huge advantage of not having
to cold-freeze the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine at minus 70°. We
are also committed to providing those vaccinations to the COVAX
programme. I am happy to write to the hon. Lady on progress
towards that target, so that she can have more detail.
(North Dorset) (Con)
My right hon. Friend’s statement is welcome and is likely to
encourage more families to book trips abroad and the like. What
assurance can he give me, following the question from my hon.
Friend the Member for Winchester () about the resilience to be
guaranteed by the Department of Health and Social Care and
others, that, as families take up the opportunities to make
bookings, families with children—I declare an interest—under 12
will not see their youngsters left behind at the gate because
they have not been able to prove what it is that they need to
prove?
Some pretty good reassurances is the answer. It is obviously the
case that something worse than omicron could come along. We very
much hope—and the chief medical officer and others suggest—that,
over a period of time, although not necessarily in a linear
fashion, this should become more and more endemic. As for what we
accept when people come here, under-18s are exempt. As for flying
out, we are making it easier, with 12 to 15 year-olds being
added. The message to my hon. Friend, to his constituents and to
the whole House is that I hope to expect no surprises between now
and the February half term, and enjoy your holidays.
(Hampstead and Kilburn)
(Lab)
I welcome the announcement by the Secretary of State, but he will
know that other countries still have testing requirements for
travellers from the UK. I know that that question has already
been raised. He will know that, if testing is to be valid for
international travel, tests must be conducted by private testing
firms, which are often based in the UK. One of my constituents
has written to me and said that she paid £150 for a single test.
In response to a previous question, the Secretary of State said
some empty words, which I have heard several times. Is there a
concrete plan of action from the Government to crack down on this
overcharging?
It is, as the hon. Lady knows, a competitive testing market, in
which many different organisations offer to test people. The
market, of course, ensures that prices are being driven down. In
fact, we have an exact test on this, because for a while in
Wales, under the Welsh Government, only NHS tests were allowed to
be used, which meant that Welsh people had to pay more for their
tests, rather than doing it privately. I do not think that she
means to attack the private system, but she is right that it is
wrong for people to be ripped off. The Competition and Markets
Authority is looking into it and, as I have said, my colleagues
in the Department of Health and Social Care who look after this
side of things are also working to make sure that the system is
not being abused. Removing the necessity to have tests removes a
large part of the need for that marketplace as well.
(Runnymede and Weybridge)
(Con)
Throughout the pandemic, Labour has flip-flopped, calling for a
pause on international travel, then opposing all and any
restrictions. May I thank my right hon. Friend for ignoring its
game playing—[Interruption]—and for his unalloyed support for
international travel and a truly connected global Britain?
Opposition Members do not like the question because it is true.
Everyone has witnessed it. Their Front-Bench team has
flip-flopped on one side, then the other side; one way, then the
other. As it turns out, it is important to follow the evidence,
and when the evidence says that we should unlock and do away with
these tests that is exactly what we have done. [Interruption.]
One would think that the hon. Member for Wythenshawe and Sale
East (), who is shouting from a
sedentary position, would welcome the data-driven,
spreadsheet-based approach to this issue.
(Wellingborough) (Con)
I thank the Secretary of State for his statement. My former
colleagues in the travel industry will certainly welcome it. But
how did we get here? Billions of people are protected by the
vaccine developed in Oxford; we have had a successful vaccine
programme here; and so many people have now been boosted. We are
now the freest state with travel restrictions and we are coming
out of lockdown nationally. Does that not show that we have great
leadership from our Prime Minister and our Government? But why
can we not bring it forward a bit from 11 February?
My hon. Friend got a question in there at the end. He is
absolutely right about everything he said before the question. I
would add that we lead the league table not only in being
unlocked as a nation, but in growing as an economy because of the
difficult decisions we made at the right times to make sure that
37 million people got the booster in their arm and we are able to
keep ourselves unlocked, and that of course includes setting
Britain free so that people can travel. In answer to his question
about timing, it takes a little bit of time to put these
technical changes in place and, indeed, to bring all four nations
with us in the process. The good news is that it will be ready
for the half-term break.
(Kensington) (Con)
As someone who represents a very international constituency,
where people regularly fly not just for holidays but for business
and family reasons, I warmly welcome these changes. Does my right
hon. Friend agree with me that this shows that we as a Government
have made the right decisions when it comes to this virus, and
that our country is fully open and ready for business?
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is never going to be easy
tackling a global pandemic—there is no rulebook or textbook that
tells us what to do—and some things we will have got right, while
other things we have had to learn along the way. Two years in, I
think today is a momentous moment, as Airlines UK has said,
because it is important that we are able to unlock the borders
and that people are able to travel again to do business and, most
importantly, to see family who many people will not have seen for
a very long time because of the prohibitive costs, so I am sure
the whole House will welcome today’s statement.
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