HOLIDAY HELL FOR MILLIONS OF BRITS
Spain travel block sparks chaos More countries face restrictions
MILLIONS of Brits face having their summer holidays ruined after the Government axed Spain from its safe travel list. Some 600,000 already there must quarantine on their return. Others with breaks booked to Spain and nations at risk of being blacklisted may have to cancel. Labour’s Jon Ashworth blasted the Government as “shambolic”.
FEARS were growing last night that millions of people will miss out on their holidays in the sun after the Government imposed strict quarantine rules for Spain.
Around 600,000 British tourists in Spain had their trips thrown into chaos after ministers changed regulations with just four hours’ notice.
Countless others who booked or are planning trips to the country and other European destinations now face an agonising choice over whether to scrap their breaks.
France and Germany are among countries seeing a jump in cases, raising concerns that they could also be struck off the UK’s safe list.
The Government refused to apologise for its sudden decision to scrap the “air bridge” to Spain, despite criticism from passengers and travel firms.
Labour blasted the “shambolic” handling of the decision saying it had left hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers “confused and distressed”.
Spain is our top holiday destination with millions going every year.
But Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said he “can’t make apologies” for taking rapid action after the country reported more than 900 new daily infections in the past two days.
He admitted the timing of the move was “disruptive”.
Mr Raab added he could not rule out other countries being axed from the safe list if they suffer outbreaks, saying: “There is an element of uncertainty.”
In Benalmadena, near Malaga on the Costa del Sol, the Mirror spoke to Claire Herstell, 47, who arrived on Friday with husband Graham, 48, and children Lynden, 14, and Laila, 13.
Claire, from Manchester said: “We had no idea this was going to happen. We were umming and ahhing about coming but because we booked it independently we would have lost all our money.
“If we knew this was going to happen we wouldn’t have come at all.”
Ministers announced on Saturday night that tourists who had not returned from Spain and its islands by midnight would be forced to stay at home for 14 days when they got back.
It prompted TUI, the UK’s biggest tour operator, to cancel all trips to mainland Spain until August 9. The
firm called for “regional travel corridors” and warned the “uncertainty and confusion” were damaging the decimated travel industry. The Government’s decision was further mired in confusion after it emerged quarantine rules would also apply to the Canary Islands and
Balearics, which have lower infection rates. The islands, which are hundreds of miles away from outbreaks on the mainland, also still have “travel corridors” in place with the UK.
Spanish foreign minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya said she was in talks with the UK about exempting them.
In the past fortnight, Catalonia – one of several regional hotspots – has seen more than 8,500 new infections while the Balearic Islands had just 92.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, who is on holiday in Spain, said he had held a video call with UK airlines and the British Ambassador to help get UK tourists home.
Business minister Paul Scully will
also have to quarantine on his return from Playa Dorada, Lanzarote.
He shared a screenshot of the news on social media with the caption: “It’s worth it” and an eye-roll emoji.
Later, he posted an image of a drink adding: “Best turn to gin.”
Mr Raab explained the Government’s move was “absolutely necessary after data on Friday “showed a big jump right across mainland Spain”.
He told Sky News yesterday: “We took the decision as swiftly as we could and we can’t make apologies for doing so.” But Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary Jon Ashworth said: “The way in which this decision has been made is frankly shambolic.
“There are holidaymakers in Spain confused and distressed, there are people about to go on holiday to Spain and the islands like Tenerife who are confused.”
In Germany, returning tourists can get tested at airports, while France is considering it for arrivals from high-risk countries like the US and Brazil.
But the UK Government admitted it would not be able to test people arriving back from Spain.
Mr Raab said there was an “element of personal responsibility” involved in self-isolation but that penalties for rule-breakers, included £1,000 fines.
The Government is leaving decisions on pay for quarantined staff to bosses who they asked to be “flexible”.
But Mr Ashworth called for “clarity” on whether financial support will be available to those who lose out.
IMPOSING the quarantining of tourists returning to Britain from Spain at virtually no notice shows up a Government inventing bad policies on the hoof.
Unable to explain why, Boris Johnson’s Tory administration once again gives the impression ministers don’t know what they’re doing.
With death rates lower in Spain than Britain, it reinforces a view this chaotic Government is just lurching about, acting without thinking and learning nothing from past mistakes.
If there is a coherent scientific case for action, let’s see it because there is no trust in politicians who fatally dithered over lockdown, sent the virus into care homes and were unable to deliver adequate PPE for health workers.
Mass testing’s the answer, not blanket quarantining, but Johnson’s disorderly regime long ago failed the credibility test.