SUMMER HOLIDAYS IN EUROPE ON BRINK

Now ministers threaten to put Spain, France and Italy on new danger list

FAMILIES were in a fight to save summer last night with holiday hotspots in Europe facing new travel rules.

Plans for an ‘amber watch list’ have sparked uproar in Whitehall, with some ministers warning the scheme could wreck the hopes of millions of Britons.

The idea, which was agreed in principle this week, would see holidaymakers warned that while they are abroad certain amber countries could go straight on to the red list. This would leave them facing compulsory hotel quarantine on their return, at a cost of £1,750 a head.

Spain and Italy both featured in talks about countries that could be put into the new category – as soon as next week – amid fears about the Beta variant, which

first emerged in South Africa. There was a glimmer of hope that France could be released from the ‘amberplus’ list, meaning the fully vaccinated will finally be able to return to the UK without the need to quarantine.

But it could still go into the amber watch category.

Senior ministers, including Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and Chancellor Rishi Sunak, are said to have reservations about imposing further disruption on the beleaguered travel sector.

Mr Shapps urged people to ‘ignore speculation’ ahead of decisions next week. But behind the scenes a battle is raging.

Any change in travel restrictions by Westminster is likely to be adopted by the Scottish Government.

One Whitehall source said: ‘You would have to be crackers to book a holiday to a place knowing that it could go on to the red list at any moment.

‘If you have already booked to go there, you are going to spend your whole holiday worrying whether you are going to have to make a dash to the airport to get home.

‘The decision next week will basically be in place for August. It is peak holiday season – are we really going to cause that much disruption to this many people?’

Another source said that the Treasury had warned ministers to ‘stop messing about with travel’. The row came as:

▪ A Scottish Government report said the country is at a ‘turning point’ in the crisis, with hospital numbers, positive cases and infection rates falling dramatically;

▪ Mr Shapps warned that businesses would be allowed to insist that staff have the Covid jab before returning to work, despite a Tory mutiny over vaccine passports;

▪ Italy extended quarantine provisions for UK visitors;

▪ Greece warned tighter restrictions could be imposed on party islands like Mykonos amid concerns that tourists were ignoring Covid rules;

▪ Mr Shapps denied claims by Foreign Secretary Dominic

Raab that France had been placed on the ‘amber-plus’ list because of an outbreak of Beta cases on the overseas territory of Reunion;

▪ Daily case numbers fell below 30,000 again, with the weekly total down by 36 per cent;

▪ Sources suggested a string of European countries, including Germany, Slovakia and Slovenia, could go on the green list this week.

Some ministers doubt whether it is even possible to put Spain on the red list this summer, given the limited amount of hotel quarantine capacity in the UK.

Government health advisers however, are said to be alarmed by the potential for importing Covid infections.

Cases of the Beta variant are of particular concern because it has proved more resistant to the AstraZeneca jab.

Sage committee papers released yesterday revealed scientists have warned that ‘any increase in foreign travel over the summer ... is of particular concern’.

Data expert Tim White said Test and Trace figures showed 2.9 per cent of arrivals in the UK from Spain between July 1 and 21 tested positive for Covid. He added: ‘From the data, my analysis is bleak.’

But Paul Charles of the PC Agency, a travel consultancy, predicted ministers would back off putting Spain on the new amber watch list. ‘It would be a really tough decision,’ he said. ‘I can’t believe they’re going to do that.’

Ministers this week agreed a lifting of quarantine restrictions for fully vaccinated tourists arriving from the United States and Europe.

They also discussed the ‘traffic light’ system that governs Britons returning from abroad.

The original green, red and amber scheme has already been supplemented with green watch and amber-plus.

‘A really tough decision’