By backing skyways, PM is bridging gap to backbenchers
It has enraged the aviation industry, triggered a Tory revolt and dashed the hopes of millions desperate to pack their bags to the strains of “we’re all going on a summer holiday”. Derided by former prime minister Theresa May as “closing off Britain from the rest of the world”, the Government’s quarantine plan is proving about as popular in Westminster as Cliff Richard’s greatest hits.
Dubbed “the right move at the wrong time”, MPS and ministers from all sides of the House appeared united in their condemnation of the proposed blanket approach to quarantine, with international arrivals subject to a 14-day period of isolation and £1,000 fines for anyone who breaks the rules.
All of which begs the question, why on earth is the Government pursuing such a divisive policy, which is due to go live on Monday?
Justifying the move, Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, appealed to the public and MPS to “put this into perspective” during her 1.30pm statement to the Commons.
“We are in a national health emergency right now,” she added. “This isn’t about the inconvenience of certain regulations and measures – we are here to make sure we protect public health first and foremost.”
Summing up the opposition, Liam Fox, the former international trade secretary, said: “I’m afraid I simply cannot get my head around the public health mental gymnastics of this policy.
“If such a barrier was required, why was it not introduced earlier in the outbreak, and if it is a contingency measure against a so-called second wave, why apply it to countries with a lower infection rate?”
Steve Brine, a former health minister, said it was “the right policy at the wrong time”.
The truth is, the quarantine plan has been mired in chaos and confusion from the start.
The Daily Telegraph understands that despite insisting yesterday that the scientific advice suggested quarantining would have made “little difference” to the rate of infection before lockdown, Ms Patel had wanted to introduce it on March 23. According to a well-placed insider: “Priti wanted quarantine at the start of lockdown but (Transport Secretary) Grant Shapps and others, including the Prime Minister, argued against it.”
The proposal would have required vast track and tracing that did not exist at the beginning of the crisis – and is only now being rolled out.
Having been “weakened” by the bullying claims that had been made against her by Sir Philip Rutnam, the former permanent secretary of the Home Office, Ms Patel lost the battle to implement more stringent border controls. The source added: “The opposing view was that you couldn’t shut down ports or it would stop all international trade.
“Then Boris got ill, and (Dominic) Cummings got ill, and the emphasis switched to the NHS. Everything became much more cautious. Cummings was going around saying: ‘We must protect the NHS at all costs’. Then suddenly Downing Street was saying to Priti: ‘We must have quarantine’.”
Mr Cummings was convinced quarantine would prove popular with voters. The latest polling suggests he may well have been right. A survey by PLMR this week found that nearly three quarters agreed with the policy. Asked if foreign nationals entering the UK should self-isolate for 14 days, 48 per cent “strongly” agreed and 25 per cent agreed “somewhat”. Asked if UK nationals should do the same, 42 per cent strongly agreed and 25 per cent agreed somewhat.
Mr Johnson was convalescing on April 25 when The Sunday Telegraph reported that two weeks of self-isolation would be imposed on Britons returning and foreigners arriving. Matt Hancock, speaking on ITV’S
This Morning on May 12, said: “It is unlikely that lavish international holidays are going to be possible.”
Yet while the Health Secretary threw his support behind the plan, Mr Shapps, under pressure from the travel industry and fearful of more Thomas Cook-style bailouts, maintained his opposition, supported by figures at the Treasury and business, who feared the plan could finish off struggling airlines. Easyjet was on the verge of announcing 4,500 job losses, after BA had announced 12,000 redundancies, and Ryanair and Virgin Atlantic had said they were planning to cull 3,000 positions each. Which perhaps explains why Mr Shapps went out on a limb to float the idea of “air bridges” as a form of compromise on May 18.
Responding to a Commons question from Lilian Greenwood, the Labour MP who chairs the transport select committee, Mr Shapps suggested the Government would consider going
“beyond what will initially be a blanket” quarantine to allow people from certain low-risk countries to enter.
However, the very next day, No10 poured cold water on the idea. Air bridges, a source insisted, were “much further down the line”.
It soon emerged that Downing Street, the Foreign Office and the Home Office were fearful of raising expectations and creating false hopes around people being able to dust off passports and head to the Continent.
Mounting criticism of the quarantine “catastrophe”, however, combined with Right-leaning newspapers calling on the Government to “save our summer holidays”, appears to have sparked a change of heart this week.
Mr Johnson is now understood to be “personally in favour” of air bridges, which look set to supersede the quarantine plan by the end of June.
Officials are already working behind the scenes to strike deals with foreign countries to make them exempt – in a move that could re-open Britain to tourism and allow foreign getaways.
In his sudden support of skyways, it seems the Prime Minister may have bridged the gap between Government and bedevilled backbenchers over what has turned out to be one of the most contentious coronavirus policies of all.
‘Priti wanted quarantine at the start of lockdown but Shapps and others, including the Prime Minister, argued against it’
Officials are working behind the scenes to strike deals that could reopen Britain to tourism and allow foreign getaways