The traffic light system could be scrapped and replaced with a new approach based on whether travellers are double jabbed in a bid to encourage people to get vaccinated.
Ranking countries green or amber could end, although the red category is expected to stay for high-risk destinations for which hotel quarantine is required.
Paul Charles, head of the PC Agency, a consultancy, said plans to create a simpler system had been shared with travel industry bosses and airlines.
‘The traffic light system is expected to be scrapped by 1st Oct – at last,’ he tweeted. Airlines and some of us in the sector are aware of plans to create a simpler system, where countries are either red or not.’
Fully-vaccinated Britons can already return from amber list countries without having to self-isolate after ministers ditched the requirement.
This means that for double-jabbed holidaymakers, the same rules apply to both green and amber countries, with a requirement to undergo pre-departure tests and then a PCR test within two days of returning to the UK.
People enjoy themselves at Magaluf beach in Mallorca – a popular destination for UK holidaymakers – earlier this summer
Paul Charles, head of the PC Agency, a consultancy, said plans to create a simpler system had been shared with travel industry bosses and airlines
In other Covid updates today –
- Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi squirmed as he was hammered by Tory MPs over ‘unsupportable, coercive and discriminatory’ plans for Covid passports at nightclubs;
- Covid cases fell sharply in Israel and hospital admissions kept going down as scientists said mass booster vaccine scheme had blunted country’s fourth wave;
- AstraZeneca bosses warned ministers not to rush booster jab plans because we might not need all of it – ahead of third dose roll-out to 35million Britons this month;
- Plans to pay an extra £10billion into the NHS with a National Insurance hike sparked warnings cash would be ‘gobbled up’ and fail to slash waiting times;
- Data suggested Scotland’s school outbreak ‘has already peaked’ and SAGE said it is too late to vaccinate youngsters in time for winter anyway.
The replacement for the traffic light system is likely to only impact the non-vaccinated, it is claimed. The quarantine or testing requirements they will have to undergo is still unclear.
‘It’s about whether you are vaccinated or not, rather than the country you are travelling to,’ a source briefed on the proposal told the Telegraph, which first reported the plans.
‘What it means is that green and amber disappear and only vaccination status will count for where you travel.
‘For a vaccinated person, just as now all countries apart from red are ”green”.’
A Government spokesman said: ‘Our international travel policy is guided by one overwhelming priority – protecting public health.
‘Decisions on our traffic light system are kept under regular review and are informed by the latest risk assessment from the Joint Biosecurity Centre and wider public health factors.
‘The next formal checkpoint review will take place by 1 October 2021.’
Pictured: A graph showing the progress of Britain’s Covid vaccine rollout
The UK’s travel rules have been coming under increasing criticism, with the boss of British Airways declaring them ‘not fit for purpose’ yesterday.
Chief executive Sean Doyle said Government policy is ‘the biggest single enabler’ of airlines recovering from the virus crisis.
He went on: ‘We had the traffic light system over the summer. There was some progress made.
‘But I think it’s not fit for purpose. It needs to be simplified. It needs to be adapted in the same way that we see in Europe and in the US.’
On Monday, Gatwick CEO Stewart Wingate called for testing to be removed altogether for travellers who have been double jabbed.
‘Other countries have done this and their aviation sectors are recovering much faster with bookings in Europe recovering twice as fast as in the UK,’ he said.
The requirements vary depending on whether someone is arriving from a green, amber or red location, and whether or not they are fully vaccinated.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps arriving in Downing Street yesterday
Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi squirms as he is hammered by Tory MPs over ‘unsupportable, coercive and discriminatory’ plans for Covid passports at nightclubs
By James Tapsfield, Political Editor for MailOnline
Nadhim Zahawi squirmed in the Commons today as he was hammered by Tory MPs over ‘unsupportable, coercive and discriminatory’ plans for Covid passports.
The vaccines minister was assailed by a host of his own side as he answered an urgent question on the proposals for using certification in nightclubs and other venues.
Faced with barbs that he was talking ‘rubbish’ and did not really back the policy, Mr Zahawi admitted that it caused him ‘pain’ to ‘curtail people’s freedoms’.
But he insisted it was not ‘normal times’ and the measure would be dropped as soon as possible.
Nadhim Zahawi squirmed in the Commons today as he was hammered by Tory MPs over ‘unsupportable, coercive and discriminatory’ plans for Covid passports
The Government has confirmed it wants to introduce vaccine passports for nightclubs by the end of September.
The scheme would see members of the public required to show proof they have had two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine in order to gain entry to clubs and other large-scale events.
Mr Zahawi said the policy is ‘designed to reduce transmission and serious illness’.
He added: ‘No-one in this Government, certainly not this Prime Minister – it is not in his DNA to curtail people’s freedoms or require people to show a piece of paper before they enter a nightclub.’
Mr Zahawi tried to lighten the mood of the chamber by referring to Michael Gove’s recent antics in a Scottish nightclub.
‘The reason that we are moving forward on this is because, if you look at what has happened in other countries where nightclubs were opening and then shutting again, opening and shutting again, we want to avoid that disruption and maintain sectors that can add to people’s enjoyment of life and dance, as it did for the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Michael Gove).
‘That they can do so sustainably, the reason for the end of September… is because by the end of September all 18-year-olds and above would have had the chance to have two doses.’
He added: ‘It is not something… we do lightly, it is something to allow us to transition this virus from pandemic to endemic status.’
But Conservative MP William Wragg said: ‘What a load of rubbish.
‘I don’t believe (Mr Zahawi) believes a word of what he’s just uttered because I remember him very persuasively stating my position – which we shared at the time – that this measure would be discriminatory and yet he’s sent to the despatch box to defend the indefensible.
‘This is a needless fight that we seem prepared to have in this House over the issue, it’s completely unnecessary.’
Mr Wragg encouraged people to have the jab, adding: ‘But to go down this route, which is overtly discriminatory, would be utterly damaging to the fabric of society.’
Senior Tories Mark Harper (left) and William Wragg (right) were among those rebuking Mr Zahawi over the Covid passports policy today
Sir Desmond Swayne, another ex-minister, swiped: ‘Isn’t the super-spreader event the spread of a liberal discriminatory and coercive policy from this despatch box?’
Tory former chief whip Mark Harper, who chairs the lockdown-sceptic Covid Recovery Group, branded vaccine passports ‘discriminatory’ before adding: ‘This is a pointless policy with damaging effects.
‘I’m afraid the minister is picking an unnecessary fight with his own colleagues. I say to him, the Government should think again.’
Mr Harper highlighted how Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg has stated there is no need for vaccine passports for MPs to attend the chamber.
He added: ‘Let’s not have one rule for Members of Parliament and another rule for everybody else. Drop this policy.’
Former Cabinet minister Karen Bradley said Mr Zahawi was ‘defending a policy that I don’t think his heart is truly in’.
Sir Desmond Swayne, another ex-minister, swiped: ‘Isn’t the super-spreader event the spread of a liberal discriminatory and coercive policy from this despatch box?’
Conservative backbencher Joy Morrissey said: ‘May I, on bended knee, implore (Mr Zahawi) to summon all his courage and say ‘no’ to vaccine passports and protect our civil liberties.’
Liberal Democrat Alistair Carmichael (Orkney and Shetland), who secured the urgent question, called on the Government to hold a vote on Covid vaccine passports.
He warned: ‘Never before in peacetime has the government of this country controlled in this way where we can go, with whom and what to do.’
Nadhim Zahawi said: ‘These are not normal times that we are enduring. This is a measure that we are having to take, and if he hears from our chief medical officers in England, Scotland, now and of course Wales and Northern Ireland, this is a mitigation to allow us to continue to transition this pandemic over the winter months and not have to reverse that policy.
‘And I say to him with a heavy heart, I would much rather stand here and take the arrows from colleagues in the back, or the front, rather than come back here to this House and have to close down nightclubs because the virus has caused a superspreader event and have to explain that to the whole industry.’
Dominic Cummings blasts Boris’s £12bn tax raid to fund NHS rescue and social care – saying ‘all No 10 can do is spend’ taxpayers’ money and his plan WON’T fix waiting lists ahead of vote tonight
By James Tapsfield, Political Editor, and Jack Maidment, Deputy Political Editor for MailOnline
Dominic Cummings today reignited his war with Boris Johnson as he blasted the Prime Minister’s £12billion tax raid and claimed the extra cash will not solve the NHS treatment backlog.
The PM’s former top adviser said ‘No10 can’t do anything but spend’ taxpayers’ money as he said the National Insurance hike was a ‘good day’ for Labour and Tory MPs should ‘put all those ‘party of low tax’ speeches away’.
He said the PM’s plans ‘won’t solve waiting lists’ or problems in the social care system as he argued the Tories are making young people ‘work harder to subsidise older richer people’.
Mr Cummings said the tax hike comes after younger generations had already been ‘screwed by a decade of hapless Tory government’ which had left many people unable to buy a house and with lower wages.
The intervention by Mr Cummings, who has been a vocal critic of the Government since his exit from Downing Street in November 2020, came after Mr Johnson clashed brutally with Sir Keir Starmer over the tax rises to bail out the NHS and social care.
In bad-tempered exchanges at the first PMQs since the summer break, Mr Johnson denied that the eye-watering National Insurance rise was ‘unfair’.
He also dodged as the Labour leader goaded him that despite the massive costs elderly people still face having to sell their homes to fund care.
Mr Johnson swiped that ‘at least we have a plan’ as he tried to turn the tables on Sir Keir for failing to come up with an alternative. The clashes came ahead of a crucial vote on the policy this evening.
There appears to be no risk of a significant Tory revolt despite widespread anxiety on the party’s benches over the decision to break their 2019 manifesto pledge not to raise taxes.
Earlier, Sajid Javid was forced to insist the Conservatives are still a low-tax party – even though the tax burden is due to reach the highest level in peacetime.
The Health Secretary was bullish about the move in interviews this morning, arguing that smashing the Conservative manifesto promise was the ‘responsible’ thing to do in the wake of the pandemic.
Dominic Cummings today reignited his war with Boris Johnson as he blasted the Prime Minister’s £12billion health and social care tax raid
Pressed on what Margaret Thatcher would have thought of the policy, he said he still has a portrait of the former PM on the wall of his office. He insisted the Tories remain the ‘party of low taxation’.
But he also admitted that the huge sums – including £30billion going into the NHS over the next three years – might not be enough to clear waiting lists. Health service bosses have already signalled they want more money, with calls for pay rises for staff.
There are claims that three Cabinet ministers challenged Mr Johnson privately over the tax rises yesterday, but there appears to be no appetite for an open rebellion – in part because the PM has been threatening a reshuffle.
In return for the big tax rise – more than £1,000 a year for some higher earners – Mr Johnson has pledged that no individual will have to pay more than £86,000 for social care after October 2023.
But there are major doubts about whether the reforms of the system will achieve, as well as fears that the NHS will simple swallow up all the funding and then demand more.
The health service will receive the vast majority of the £36billion raised by yesterday’s National Insurance hike over the next three years, with social care receiving a £5.3billion slice.
But health bosses said the settlement leaves a ‘significant shortfall’ and warned millions of patients will still face long delays.