Coronavirus: Transport secretary defends travel rule changes

The transport secretary has defended changes to England’s traffic light travel system, as one airline says it worked through the night to return Britons from red-listed Mexico.

Up to 6,000 British tourists are currently in the country, and those who want to avoid quarantine will need to return before 04:00 BST on Sunday.

The change was announced on Wednesday.

Grant Shapps said a new plan to review restrictions every three weeks will make for a “simplified system”.

People would be able to travel “without looking over their shoulders”, he said.

The changes apply for passengers returning to England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The latest widespread changes to Covid travel rules also see fully vaccinated passengers arriving from France no longer needing to quarantine and Spain remaining on the amber list.

But the Department for Transport has now said that “arrivals from Spain and all its islands are advised to use a PCR test as their pre-departure test wherever possible” instead of the cheaper lateral flow tests.

India, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are moving from red to amber, while Germany, Austria and Norway are among seven nations being added to the green list.

However Mexico, Georgia, La Reunion and Mayotte are now considered the highest risk destinations and will move to the red list.

Holidaymakers need to return from these countries by the Sunday deadline or face paying to quarantine in a government-approved hotel for 10 days.

On Thursday, Mr Shapps sought to reassure British holidaymakers that the traffic light system would now be reviewed every three weeks – compared with once a week last summer and more recent ad-hoc changes – because of the number of people in the UK and abroad who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I hope people will be able to go away under this simplified system, enjoy their breaks and not be looking over their shoulders the whole time.”

Mr Shapps said that between 5,000 and 6,000 British holidaymakers are in Mexico currently and would be “making arrangements to come home”.

From 12 August, the cost of hotel quarantine will increase, with the price for single adult travellers rising from £1,750 to £2,285 and a second adult paying £1,430.

The government has said this better reflects the costs involved, including transport, security and PCR tests.

Children aged 5-12 will still cost £325; it is free for children aged under five.

Mr Shapps said the hotel quarantine system had been designed to “pay for itself” and should not be at the cost of the taxpayer, who he said had paid about £75m towards the programme.

He stressed that people should not be travelling to red list countries and they are “off the reservation as far as travel is concerned”.

British Airways said its teams had been “working through the night to arrange as many additional seats out of Mexico as possible to help get Britons home”.

It added that customers could re-book their flights from Mexico “at no additional cost” ahead of the deadline, and that British Airways Holidays would “automatically refund any customer with a booking to Mexico in the next four weeks”.

Robin and Viv Silverthorne, from Worthing in Sussex, were flying to Cancun, Mexico, yesterday when they found out mid-air that the country was being placed on the red list.

Robin says the couple spent hours on the phone trying to speak to their airline “without success” before making the decision to come home after just a day to avoid paying for a quarantine hotel.

He told the BBC: “It’s not just us, there was a plane full of holidaymakers in the same boat, some with children who will now have to pay thousands to quarantine on return.

“We have only just secured a return flight via Miami tomorrow. We have essentially paid a total of £8,000 for a day trip to Mexico.”

He says the couple had done their research and just wanted a “nice holiday” – but that the latest changes to the rules had left Viv in tears.

Also in Mexico are Claudia Rattray and her daughters Ivana and Summer who travelled to Mexico City to visit her family only to find out that the country had been added to the red list when they arrived.

“I decided to enjoy the time here with my family and I am going to see if in three weeks the government reviews this list,” she said. “But I think if not I am going to stay here in Mexico because I can’t afford to pay for a quarantine hotel.”

She added that they were lucky that they were staying with family and so had the option of staying for longer.

Asked about the advice on PCR tests for arrivals from Spain, Mr Shapps insisted the government was “not changing the rules”, as in Spain’s case, “virtually everyone is taking a PCR” to meet the government’s performance standards for the pre-departure test.

But in a series of tweets Conservative MP Huw Merriman, chairman of the Commons Transport Select Committee, criticised “expensive” PCR tests for travel as an “unnecessary rip-off” and a “barrier to affordable travel”.

Mr Shapps also said he believes full vaccination will “be a feature for ever more and most countries, probably all countries, will require full vaccination in order for you to enter”.

Labour’s shadow transport secretary Jim McMahon criticised the government for its “flip-flopping over France” and reiterated calls for the government to publish the data upon which the decisions on the travel lists are made.

Moving from amber to green: Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Slovakia, Latvia, Romania and Norway

Moving from red to amber: India, Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE

Moving from amber to red: Georgia, Mexico, La Reunion and Mayotte

Moving from amber-plus to amber: France

If you have been in a red list country in the last 10 days, you can only enter the UK if you are a UK or Irish national or UK resident, and you must stay at a quarantine hotel on your return.

The total number of countries or territories on the green list – from which all travellers can return without having to quarantine – rises from 29 to 36 when the changes come into effect.

But countries have their own rules about allowing visitors – so being on the UK’s green list does not guarantee travellers can visit.

The UK government sets the red, amber and green lists for England, while the other nations are in charge of their own lists. Scotland and Northern Ireland confirmed they will be adopting the same changes as England.

But the Welsh government criticised the “ad-hoc nature” of the UK government’s travel decisions. It said it will consider whether to follow the latest changes, adding: “We continue to advise against all but essential travel abroad because of the continuing risk of infection.”

Graeme Buck, from travel trade association Abta, told the BBC News Channel it was good news France had been moved onto the amber list, while Greece and Spain retained their status.

But he said the number of countries coming onto the green list was happening at a “snail’s pace” and the seven that had been added were not traditional holiday destinations.

James Martin, director of policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, urged the government to “fundamentally simplify” the traffic light system to give businesses “confidence and clarity” as well as step up efforts to “drive down the cost of tests”.

British Airways boss Sean Doyle said it welcomed the news but urged the government to go further, saying the UK’s economic recovery “is reliant on a thriving travel sector and right now we’re lagging behind Europe, with our more stringent testing requirements and a red list significantly broader than our European peers”.

Are you in Mexico? Are you planning on returning before Sunday to avoid hotel quarantine?

Or are you returning from Spain with a PCR test?

Email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

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