Labour calls on government to “urgently overhaul border policy”

Labour’s Nick Thomas-Symonds has called on the UK government to “review and overhaul border policy” to protect the country from Covid-19 after Priti Patel said borders should have closed in March.

The Home Secretary broke cabinet collective responsibility last night when, on the question of whether the UK should have closed its borders earlier, she replied that “I was an advocate of closing them last March”.

“On ‘should we have closed our borders earlier’, the answer is yes,” she said. The comments were reportedly made to Conservative Party supporters on Tuesday evening and revealed to the public through a leaked recording.

It was reported in March last year that Patel had rowed with Boris Johnson over closing Britain’s borders. Between the start of the pandemic and June, the UK did not impose quarantine rules on travellers to the UK.

Responding to Patel’s comments, the Shadow Home Secretary said: “This is a shocking admission from the Home Secretary about the government’s failure to secure the UK’s borders against Covid.

“Priti Patel’s admission, coupled with the complete lack of strategy for testing of travellers, means that the Government has left our doors open to the virus and worrying mutations.

“Ministers now need to – urgently – review and overhaul border policy, whilst taking responsibility for the huge damage their incompetence has done to our national safety and security.”

Asked about the issue on Politics Live today, Labour peer Shami Chakrabarti said: “I don’t think it took much hindsight even in March to know that the borders were an issue.”

Baroness Chakrabarti added that she was surprised a party leadership that had “build itself on taking back control of our borders” did not do so “when it was necessary to take control of the virus”.

She attributed the decision to a “business-first approach” and “to hell with Covid line” adopted by the Tories, as well as the fact that essential travel would have required “rigorous testing” and “very firm quarantine”.

While Chakrabarti told the BBC that these measures have yet to be put in place “properly” to this day, the Home Office says there are now “strong measures” at the border.

Travellers entering the UK today are told they must bring a completed passenger locator form and proof of a negative coronavirus test from 4am on January 18th.

‘Travel corridors’ for people arriving in England, which allowed those arriving from certain countries not to self-isolate, are currently suspended.