Backlash over ‘ridiculous’ prison threat

MATT HANCOCK’S threat of ten-year jail terms for evading quarantine rules is ‘utterly ridiculous’, critics say.

The health secretary faced a furious backlash yesterday over tightened restrictions on UK nationals returning from 33 Covid-19 red list nations.

A ten-day hotel stay costing £1,7 0 is now mandatory and anyone caught lying about their movements could be fined £10,000 or jailed up to ten years.

But Tory MP Sir Charles Walker yesterday said it was an utterly ridiculous threat. Sir Charles, vicechairman of the 1922 committee of backbench Tory MPs, told Sky News: ‘Are we really going to lock people up for ten years for being dishonest about the fact that they’ve been to Portugal?’

Former Supreme Court justice Lord Sumption wrote in The Telegraph: ‘Does Mr Hancock really think that non-disclosure of a visit to Portugal is worse than the large number of violent firearms offences or sexual offences involving minors, for which the maximum is seven years?’

Sir Jonathan Jones, the government’s former legal chief, tweeted: ‘If anyone is EVER sentenced to 10 years for lying on the form, I will eat a face mask. (A clean one, I’m not mad.)’

But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer pointed to Oxford university research showing 33 countries have tougher border rules than Britain, including Canada, Denmark, Japan and Israel.

He told the PM: ‘In fact, they say we’re not even in the top bracket of countries with border restrictions, 0 days after we first discovered the South African variant.’

New rules are due to come in from Monday, with Scotland ordering hotel stays for visitors from all countries.