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Public told to abandon summer holidays abroad

Passengers wait to check in at Heathrow as international travel resumed on Monday - Jason Alden/Bloomberg
Passengers wait to check in at Heathrow as international travel resumed on Monday - Jason Alden/Bloomberg

The public have been told to abandon plans to go abroad this year by a health minister as the Government’s advice on holidays descended into chaos.

Lord Bethell – who is close to Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary – told peers that people should “stay in this country”.

He said: “Travelling is dangerous. That is not news to us or to the people who get on those planes in the first place. We do ask people, particularly as we go into the summer, travelling is not for this year – please stay in this country.”

The warning came despite the fact that the ban on travelling abroad has been lifted, with many families having booked breaks, and amid contradictory guidance from the Government.

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The apparent disarray prompted a furious response from senior Tory backbenchers and travel industry chiefs, who warned that it would sow confusion and undermine trust in the Government.

One senior Tory MP described Lord Bethell’s comments as “idiotic” adding: “If that’s the case, why is there a ‘green list’?”

Paul Charles, the head of The PC Agency, who led a campaign to save summer holidays, said: “He is totally out of touch with reality and, even worse, totally not understanding the collapse of livelihoods in the travel and tourism sectors caused by this policy.”

Lord Bethell’s comments came despite the fact that George Eustice, the Environment Secretary, had said on Tuesday morning that Britons could travel abroad to “amber list” countries to visit friends and families.

Mr Eustice was overruled just hours later by Boris Johnson, who insisted people should not go to “amber” countries unless they had “pressing family or urgent business reasons”.

But even the Prime Minister’s guidance was apparently contradicted by official advice from the Foreign Office, which states that Britons can safely make non-essential trips to at least 20 “amber” countries listed on its website.

Tour operators and airlines are already flying holidaymakers to some of these destinations because the Foreign Office advice means that travellers can get insurance. Some tour companies are reporting a trebling in demand.

And Simon Hart, the Welsh Secretary, told Times Radio that, while people should only go to amber list countries “if it is essential”, some might “think a holiday is essential”.

There are only 12 countries or territories on the quarantine-free “green list”, including Portugal and Gibraltar. The rest of Europe and the US are among the 177 countries on the “amber list”, requiring quarantine and two PCR tests on return.

Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the Tory backbench 1922 committee, said: “Millions of people are desperate to see loved ones living abroad – surely the whole point of the green, amber and red scheme is to ensure safety by matching levels of testing and isolation to real levels of risk?

“By advising against travel to ‘amber’ countries, the Government risks making travel to them uninsurable.”

Greg Clark, a former Business Secretary and the chairman of the Commons science committee, said it was “very strange” to have proportionate precautions for travel to “amber” countries but then tell people not to go. “It does beg the question what is wrong with the measures required,” he said.

“If there is an ‘amber list’, which signals to most people to proceed with caution, then everything should align with that. One of the intended virtues of the traffic light system was for it to be clear.”

Huw Merriman, Tory chair of the transport select committee, said: "Confusion reigns. What’s the point in bringing in a mechanism, labelling amber countries as ‘moderate risk’ and then, by implication, shading them red by telling passengers they shouldn’t even go?"

Speaking at Westminster, Lord Bethell, a Harrow-educated hereditary peer who previously ran an influential lobbying firm, also praised a suggestion that people who were in quarantine could be made to wear electronic tags of the kind used to monitor criminals.

The suggestion was made by nursing academic Baroness Watkins of Tavistock, who called on the Government to consider a scheme similar to that used in South Korea to contain the spread of infection. Lord Bethell said he was grateful for the “creative” idea.

Responding to the peer’s comments on travel, one aviation boss said: “It’s nice if he doesn’t have any family abroad that he needs to visit. He should look at his colleagues in the Lords, where you had one last week dialling in from France [an ‘amber’ country].”

Henry Smith, the Tory chairman of the all-party Future of Aviation group, said: “It confirms my worst fears that the unofficial official policy of the Government is that they don’t want people travelling abroad this summer.

“It raises concerns that the official review point of the ‘green list’ in three weeks time will be minimal. It builds in the competitive disadvantage that this country will remain closed while our serious competitors like Germany open up.”

Lord Bethell’s comments echoed those of Mr Hancock, who said earlier this week that people should not go on holiday to “amber list” countries and only visit them if they had an “exceptional reason” such as a dying relative.

However, on Tuesday morning, Mr Eustice told Radio Four’s Today programme: “The reason ... we have the amber list is that there will be reasons people feel they need to travel either to visit family or friends.”

In an attempt to end the confusion, Mr Johnson said: “I think it’s very important for people to grasp what an ‘amber list’ country is. It is not somewhere where you should be going on holiday. Let me be very clear about that.

“If people do go to an ‘amber list’ country, they absolutely have to for some pressing family or urgent business reasons. If they go to an 'amber' list country, bear in mind they will have to self-isolate. You will have to take tests, do a passenger locator form, but you will also have to self-isolate for 10 days when you get back.

“That period of quarantine will be enforced with fines of up to £10,000.”

It is legal to travel to “amber” countries without the prospect of being fined, but any holidaymaker returning from them is required to quarantine for 10 days and take two PCR tests. There are fines of up to £10,000 for failing to self-isolate for the 10 days.

The traffic light list is drawn up by the Department for Transport, but the Foreign Office also issues travel advice which takes into account other factors such as the risk of terrorism. Most insurance packages will not pay out for trips to countries where the Foreign Office recommends against non-essential travel.

The 21 destinations to which it allows non-essential travel include Malta, Cyprus, Canary Islands, Rhodes, Kos, Zakynthos, Corfu, Crete, St Lucia, Grenada, Fiji, Sri Lanka, Russia, Norway, Denmark, Singapore and Vietnam.

The Association of British Insurers said Foreign Office advice was critical to most insurance packages even if the Prime Minister and Health Secretary advised against holidays to “amber list” countries.

If in doubt, holidaymakers should check with their insurers.