Police spot checks to enforce quarantine

MPS asked to back law giving officers power to check people stay at home after travel

MPS will be asked to support new quarantine measures for all international arrivals that will give police the power to carry out spot checks at homes and impose £1,000 fines.

The Government is today expected to unveil long-expected plans that will require all arrivals, including returning Britons, to provide an accommodation address where they will self-isolate for 14 days.

Border Force, police and Public Health England officers will run and enforce the quarantine, with travellers facing spot checks at the addresses they submit on arrival at airports or ports.

There are expected to be around 100 checks a day. Those found to have breached the quarantine face fines of at least £1,000, while it is believed magistrates will have the power to issue unlimited fines for persistent breaches or refusal to pay.

The regulations, expected to be introduced under the Health Protection Act, will not come into force before June and could face opposition in Parliament, where some Tory MPS are unhappy over the timing of the plans as Britain seeks to ease lockdown to revive the economy.

No10 and the Home Office were unclear about whether there would be a vote on the scheme, but there could be pressure for a debate and a vote.

Last night, there were signs that senior Tories could oppose the plan.

Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, has branded the Government’s policy “confusing”, adding:

“The Government needs to rethink this quickly and not go into quarantine. If they got their testing level up, then anyone coming in would be tested and put on the tracking app.”

Steve Baker, the Conservative MP and former chairman of the European Research Group of Tory MPS, told The Daily Telegraph earlier this week: “I am at a loss to understand why they are talking about quarantine now.

“We should be taking every possible measure to open up society and the economy and get things going, otherwise the economic and clinical cost is going to be far too high.

“What we have learnt about the virus means we can shield the vulnerable and respect people’s individual choices to behave appropriately so we can open up society as quickly as possible.”

The Government is expected to confirm quarantine will be reviewed every three weeks but maintains the measure is necessary to prevent a second wave of the virus from infected passengers as Britain reduces its transmission rate.

Travellers will also be strongly ad- vised to download and use the NHS contact-tracing app.

It is unclear what proof of address will be required for international arrivals, but Border Force and PHE officials will have powers to keep those who wish to enter the UK but do not have the required information in government-approved centres.

Police will be responsible for the spot checks and may need powers to compel a named individual to come to the door of a home to prove they are at the address they gave at the airport, according to police sources.

It was not clear last night how the £1,000 fines would be administered, with critics questioning how they could be enforced against departing overseas visitors.

Only countries in the Common Travel area – including Ireland, Guernsey and Jersey – will be exempt, along with the 12,000 freight drivers a day required to bring food, medicines and other vital supplies into the UK.

They will be expected to drive and

drop off their loads before leaving the UK.

There are understood to be at least two dozen other “specialised” and “limited” exemptions for jobs that are deemed to be vital to keep Britain running smoothly, such as Border Force officials, police officers, diplomats, defence officials, medical specialists, engineers for critical infrastructure and North Sea oil workers.

Earlier this week, Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, suggested there could be “air bridges” negotiated for travellers to and from other countries with low coronavirus rates, although other departments are said to have branded them “unworkable”.

Downing Street said such air corridors were an option but were not yet government policy.

It comes as other countries across the EU – including Greece, Italy and Germany – are starting to open up their borders for summer holidaymakers.

Airlines and travel firms fear a lengthy quarantine will threaten further job losses and delay any revival in the industry. John Holland-kaye, the

Heathrow chief executive, said yesterday: “If they think that quarantine is the right thing to do I think we have to go with that, but it has to be timelimited and we have to plan for what comes next.

“The idea of air bridges … is a very sensible way of doing that.

“There is no perfect way to make sure only healthy people fly at this stage, so we have to take a risk-based approach.

“As the level of transmission comes down in this country and in other countries, we need to find a way that the vast, vast, vast majority of people who don’t have a disease can still fly.”

Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, has previously warned that foreign summer holidays were unlikely to take place this year, while Oliver Dowden, the Culture Secretary, said on Wednesday that domestic holidays could be possible by the beginning of July, if the rate of coronavirus infection could be kept down.

Heathrow began using camera detection systems yesterday in a trial to monitor the temperatures of many people moving through the airport.