Travel quarantine move: Oldham MP urges Government to 'up their game'

Oldham West and Royton MP Jim McMahon has urged the Government to 'up their game' as he questioned the scrapping of quarantine rules for travellers to and from over 50 'low risk' countries across the globe.

People arriving in England from more than 50 countries including France, Spain, Germany and Italy will no longer need to quarantine from next Friday, July 10, the Department for Transport confirmed earlier today.

Most travellers to the UK currently have to self-isolate for 14 days.

Scotland and Wales are yet to decide whether to ease travel restrictions, while quarantine regulations also remain in place in Northern Ireland for people arriving from outside the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

England's quarantine restrictions only came into force in early June

Mr McMahon, the shadow Transport Secretary, said: "What we were promised is that the Government would come forward with a plan that would give absolute clarity about when people can start booking holidays for this summer and beyond.

"I'm afraid we just haven't got that.

"What we've ended up with is a list of countries that the UK Government deem safe to travel to, but by the look of it, no agreement with that country about whether they would accept British passengers coming in.

"If they do accept British passengers coming in, would that be with any conditions or restrictions being in place?

"What we haven't got is an air-bridge, or air-corridor, as it's sometimes called, so the Government now need to really up their game, have a proper agreement internationally with other countries, so people can make sure they have absolute clarity and confidence that when they book a holiday or a trip abroad, that can be done in the knowledge that they won't face restrictions on arrival."

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said this morning that countries on the list would be labelled as either amber or green, in line with a traffic-light system based on their prevalence of coronavirus:

"Green" countries, such as New Zealand, have "very low" levels of coronavirus and will therefore have restrictions for UK arrivals

"Amber" countries - including France, Germany, Italy and Spain - will have "reciprocal arrangements" in place, meaning travellers from the UK will not have to quarantine on arrival

Restrictions will remain in place for "red" countries, including the US

All passengers, except those on a small list of exemptions, will still have to give contact information on arrival in the UK and details of where they have been during the previous 14 days.

The CEO of Gatwick Airport, Stewart Wingate, said it sent "a very clear message that it is now safe to take summer holidays abroad".

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