• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • About Us
    • FAQ
    • Meet the Team
  • Contact us
  • Guest Content
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
NEWSLETTER
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home Politics

Johnson’s leaky borders plan risks letting new variant ‘run rampant’

England is to allow people visiting from the US and the EU who are fully vaccinated against coronavirus to enter without the need to quarantine.

Henry Goodwin by Henry Goodwin
2021-07-29 10:09
in Politics
FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmailWhatsapp

Boris Johnson risks allowing a new Covid variant to “run rampant” through the country by further easing restrictions for EU and US travellers, Labour has claimed.

England is to allow people visiting from the US and the EU who are fully vaccinated against coronavirus to enter without the need to quarantine.

The new rules will be in place from 4am on Monday, with Transport Secretary Grant Shapps expressing hopes that the US will become more relaxed about allowing Britons to visit “in time”.

But following an encouraging few days in which Covid-19 case numbers in the UK have fallen from above 50,000 on 17 July to 27,734 by 9am on Wednesday, Labour sounded warnings over the impact of the travel changes.

‘Recklessness and confusion’

Shadow transport secretary Jim McMahon said: “The government’s track record on our borders has been one of recklessness and confusion. 

“They are in danger of continuing this by setting out changes in policy, applying to England only, without the scientific data and criteria we need to make sure we don’t see another Johnson variant run rampant through the country and damage the effort of the British public.

“We want to see international travel opened up safely. Ministers need to be clear on what progress has been made on reaching reciprocal agreements for Brits travelling abroad – particularly regarding the NHS app being accepted as proof of Covid status. 

“We also need a clear green and red list and the country-by-country data to back it up.” 

The Scottish government also announced the rule change will apply to fully vaccinated EU and US visitors to Scotland from Monday.

RelatedPosts

Sunak calls crisis meeting as Tory Party face war on two fronts

Johnson receives hefty book advance – but taxpayers will cover ex-PM’s legal bill

Matt Hancock’s I’m A Celebrity fee uploaded to MP’s register of financial interests

Jeremy Vine caller bemoans Tories – but says she’ll vote for them ‘just to keep Labour out’

The Welsh government said it “regrets” the move to remove the quarantine requirement in England, but added it would be “ineffective” to have different rules for Wales.

Ministers in Northern Ireland will consider their position on the charge at Thursday’s meeting of the powersharing executive.

Currently, only travellers who have received two doses of a vaccine in the UK are permitted to enter from an amber country – such as the US and most of the EU – without self-isolating for 10 days, except those returning from France.

Professor Christina Pagel, director of the clinical operational research unit at UCL, said she was worried about variants that are better at infecting people who are already vaccinated given that those who are fully vaccinated could still catch and pass on the virus.

‘You can come here’

Speaking to the Guardian, she said a “worrying new variant could emerge” in the US or Europe – or “a variant that emerges anywhere will spread everywhere” if travel were less inhibited between those places and the UK.

Hailing the policy change, Shapps said: “Whether you are a family reuniting for the first time since the start of the pandemic or a business benefiting from increased trade, this is progress we can all enjoy.”

Asked whether he was confident the US and Europe would reciprocate in allowing fully vaccinated travellers from England without needing to quarantine, Shapps said: “I’ve just spoken to my US counterpart today and in the US they still have an executive order which prevents travel from the UK, from Europe, from several other countries to the US.

“So we’re saying, ‘You can come here, you can come visit, you can come see friends, you can come as a tourist if you’ve been double vaccinated and follow the rules without quarantine’.

“We can’t change that on the other side but we do expect that in time they will release that executive order, which was actually signed by the previous president, and bans inward travel.”

Related: Join the Greens to beat climate change, says PM’s climate spokeswoman

Tags: Boris JohnsonCovid-19Labour Partyquarantine

Since you are here

Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.

Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.

Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.

If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.

To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.

The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.

The shop can be found here.

You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending on TLE

  • All
  • trending
Abdollah

‘Rescue us’: Afghan teacher begs UK to help him escape Taliban

CHOMSKY: “If Corbyn had been elected, Britain would be pursuing a much more sane course”

What If We Got Rid Of Prisons?

More from TLE

Piers Morgan ‘approached’ about potential GMB return after ratings slump

Breaking: London stock market hits 28-month low

UK could see biggest-ever lottery winner crowned on Tuesday

Parliamentary Sketch 7th January – We pen rise and the NHS

Weather forecast, alerts and UVB index for London, Sunday 3 January 2021

Rural homes in England set to be heated by…vegetable oil

English councils’ spending on homeless B&B housing up 500% in decade

Top 5 Reasons Why Your Marketing Strategy Depends on Instagram

Priti Patel quits as Home Secretary as Truss elected new Tory leader

Peers slam ‘totally stupid’ Covid rules and blaming public as parts of North may revolt over restrictions

JOBS

FIND MORE JOBS

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

Contact

Editorial enquiries, please contact: [email protected]

Commercial enquiries, please contact: [email protected]ndoneconomic.com

Address

The London Economic Newspaper Limited t/a TLE
Company number 09221879
International House,
24 Holborn Viaduct,
London EC1A 2BN,
United Kingdom

SUPPORT

We do not charge or put articles behind a paywall. If you can, please show your appreciation for our free content by donating whatever you think is fair to help keep TLE growing and support real, independent, investigative journalism.

DONATE & SUPPORT

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Travel
  • JOBS
  • More…
    • Elevenses
    • Opinion
    • Property
    • Tech & Auto
  • About Us
    • Meet the Team
    • Privacy policy
  • Contact us

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.