Will Labour back Covid passports? Debate grows as restrictions are lifted

David Cameron has broken his silence. He published a 1,700-word statement last night responding to the Greensill lobbying scandal stories, after it was revealed that as well as texting Rishi Sunak he brought Lex Greensill to a “private drink” with Matt Hancock. The former Prime Minister describes “many of the allegations” around his work as a senior adviser for the financial firm as “not correct”, but concludes that his “communications with government need to be done through only the most formal of channels”. Gordon Brown has said that former PMs “must never” lobby government for commercial purposes and new laws should be passed to stop it.

As journalist Gabriel Pogrund pointed out, questions over Cameron’s conduct will not go away – especially as thousands could lose their jobs thanks to Greensill’s collapse. In the meantime, some MPs have reacted to Cameron’s statement by criticising its timing, which was “unfortunate” according to Labour’s Chris Bryant and “very, very poor” in the words of Tory Tim Loughton. The House of Commons will see MPs offer tributes to Prince Philip from 2.30pm today, potentially running until 10pm with no other parliamentary business scheduled. Campaigning by Labour ahead of the May elections will resume fully tomorrow.

England enters stage two of Boris Johnson’s four-stage roadmap for unlocking today, which means non-essential retail, personal care services, outdoor hospitality venues and other businesses can reopen. Schools and non-essential shops can also fully reopen in Wales, which people can travel in and out of again, and people in Northern Ireland are being told to stay local rather than stay at home. Come rain or shine or… erm, snow… the LabourList team will venture outside to see if we can get a pub pint tonight. More seriously, as the TUC highlights, it is crucial that workplaces are Covid-secure as we unlock – and safety rules should be enforced.

I think this sadly seldom discussed point about workplace safety is far more important than other roadmap considerations, but everyone is talking about the more easily debated certification idea. Darren Jones MP has written for LabourList about an approach to Covid passports that is both pro-technology and pro-civil liberties. A shadow cabinet member has told The Times that Labour could back the certification plan after all, which makes this exploration of the potential costs and benefits particularly interesting. As Jones asks: do the temporary advantages of status certification outweigh the clear potential risks, and do they justify foregoing public investment in more direct measures that would get the economy reopened?