Labour call for effective border tests

LABOUR’S Nick ThomasSymonds has urged Boris Johnson to introduce an “effective” border testing and quarantining regime, arguing: “Nobody could say that the situation at our borders is satisfactory.”

The shadow home secretary said the country needed a “comprehensive system and plan from the Government and stop moving from one chaotic situation to another”.

The Government, he said, “was an international outlier” in its approach to travel protection as he called on it to “get a grip” after acting “too slowly”, and indicated his support for the use of hotels.

Following the emergence of new variants of the virus in Brazil and South Africa which may be less susceptible to the vaccines, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the Government would adopt a “precautionary” approach to protecting the UK’s borders.

Ministers are expected to meet this week to discuss a proposal to require people arriving in the UK to pay to quarantine in a hotel.