Tests before flying are pointless, say senior Tories

PRE-DEPARTURE tests for holidaymakers could be scrapped, with ministers arguing privately that they have been rendered pointless by the rapid spread of the omicron variant.

The Sunday Telegraph understands that a number of senior Government figures are pushing for the test requirement to be dropped, with the issue expected to be raised when travel rules are reviewed on Wednesday.

They include Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, who is said to believe that the benefit of pre-departure testing has been reduced because omicron has already become the dominant strain across Britain.

Other senior Tory MPs including Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee, are also calling for the requirement to be dropped.

Currently, all people travelling to the UK must take a PCR or lateral flow test in the two days before travel and must have booked and paid for a PCR test to be taken within two days of arrival. They must also self-isolate until they receive a negative result from the second test.

The requirement was reintroduced at the beginning of December in response to the emergence of omicron, with ministers hoping pre-departure tests would help prevent infected travellers from a number of African countries seeding the new strain in Britain. But by the time border measures were strengthened again a number of cases had been identified across the UK.

They quickly multiplied, leading to widespread community transmission and omicron replacing delta as the dominant strain within a fortnight.

Despite omicron now accounting for almost all cases in Britain, the border testing regime is continuing to have a significant impact on the aviation and travel industry, who warn the additional expense and bureaucracy is proving a “major deterrent” to travel.

Sir Graham said: “The PM made the right call over Christmas and New Year, trusting people to make the right choices in their own lives and throwing a lifeline to the struggling hospitality sector.

“We now need to see this extended to international travel, which is facing yet more restrictions at a crucial time in the booking season … if a more relaxed approach is good enough for the domestic economy, given what we know about omicron, it should be good enough for travel too.”