Labour calls for “rapid review to fix chaotic quarantine arrangements”

Nick Thomas-Symonds has called for a “rapid review to fix chaotic quarantine arrangements” and said that the government’s handling of people coming to the UK has “lacked urgency, coherence and clarity from the outset”.

In a letter to Priti Patel, the Shadow Home Secretary highlighted the “dire warnings that have been made regarding job losses by travel-related sectors” and said that the government is “putting whole sectors of the economy at risk”.

He wrote that the Home Secretary should carry out a policy review of UK quarantine procedures to report within a fortnight, and introduce a “robust testing regime” to “safely minimise the need for 14 day quarantine”.

Under the current system implemented earlier this year due to the pandemic, the government maintains a list of countries from which people are required to quarantine for a period of two weeks.

The government has been facing increasing pressure to review the process after England chose not to quarantine arrivals from Portugal earlier this week, even though a two-week isolation period was imposed by Scotland and Wales.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps admitted on Friday that differences across the four nations are “confusing”, but he also accused Scotland of having “jumped the gun” in relation to requiring lockdown for travellers from Portugal.

Thomas-Symonds highlighted in his letter that Shapps has also said that it “may be possible to bring the quarantine period down to seven, eight or ten days” with the right kind of system in place.

Many other countries around the world have already put in place a system of testing for coronavirus in new arrivals at their international airports, including Germany, France, Austria, Dubai and Iceland.

A facility was set up at Heathrow airport last month that would potentially allow for 13,000 people to be screened a day. The unit is not in use as the government has refused to say that those with a negative result can avoid quarantine.

Labour called in July for the protection of travel jobs after the introduction of quarantine for people coming from Spain, highlighting the “17,500 redundancy notices issued in the aviation sector since the beginning of lockdown”.

Below is the full text of the letter sent to Priti Patel.

Dear Home Secretary

I write to call for a rapid review to fix chaotic quarantine arrangements that are losing public confidence and undermining our ability to keep people safe and save jobs.

In order to rebuild this trust I am calling on government to undertake a review in to quarantine policy to report within a fortnight. It should include outlining options for a robust testing regime in airports, and related follow up tests, that could help to safely minimise the need for 14 day quarantine.

It is clear that ramped up testing is an important part of trying to respond to the pandemic and safely reopen society. Given the huge challenges being faced by the travel sector and the scale of job losses, it makes sense to look at this area as part of wider package of improvements to the testing regime.

You will of course be aware of the dire warnings that have been made regarding job losses by travel related sectors.

Your cabinet colleague the Secretary of State for Transport suggested this week that with the right kind of system in place it may be possible to bring the quarantine period down to seven, eight or ten days. What is needed now is far more clarity about how that might be achieved, including more transparency about what is being done to act on the advice reported by The scientific advisory group for emergencies (SAGE) that it may be possible to reduce quarantine times with testing at airports and follow up tests at home.

The continued uncertainty is damaging public confidence and putting whole sectors of the economy at risk.

Furthermore, there have been serious concerns raised about the monitoring of compliance with the quarantine restrictions that are in place. There are reports that less than a third of passenger locator forms are checked, with a non-compliance rate of around 10 per cent. The effectiveness of this regime should also be part of the review, to try and build confidence in the arrangements.

The government’s handling of arrivals into the UK has lacked urgency, coherence and clarity from the outset. Including being too slow to implement controls at the onset of the crisis.

It’s also clear that the impact on the travel sector, as with other badly-hit parts of our economy, is so significant that your government must abandon its one-size-fits-all withdrawal of income support without delay.

Yours sincerely,

Nick Thomas-Symonds MP
Shadow Home Secretary