Coronavirus: the plans on Boris Johnson’s desk for Britain’s borders
Cabinet split as PM weighs up options ahead of announcement tomorrow
Government officials are nervously awaiting an announcement from Boris Johnson about tighter border controls amid a cabinet split over what restrictions to introduce.
As the prime minister mulls the various options on the table, insiders are becoming “privately critical of how long it has taken to come up with a viable policy”, says Politico London Playbook’s Alex Wickham.
A final decision will be made at a meeting of the Michael Gove-chaired Covid-O Committee that, for “some reason that no one has been able to explain”, will be held of Tuesday rather than today - “meaning an extra day for thousands more arrivals into the country”, Wickham adds.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
On the agenda
With the UK battling to contain outbreaks of new strains of the coronavirus, experts are warning that time is of the essence in making a decision on tighter border controls.
According to The Sunday Times, Johnson is set to come down in favour of banning “foreign passport-holders from countries where the coronavirus is mutating from entering Britain”.
As the paper notes, the move would mark the “first outright block on certain passport-holders in recent history”, with extensions of the travel ban imposed on South Africa, South American countries and Portugal earlier this month after new strains of Covid were detected in the regions.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Fears have been raised that arrivals from high-risk countries could fly via connecting airports in order to bypass the ban.
But proponents of the plan have suggested that as an additional safeguard, new arrivals could “be met at point of entry and escorted to isolation hotels, where they will have to stay at their own expense”, the paper reports.
The proposals for mandatory quarantine have caused a rift in the cabinet, with “ministers divided on whether it should be imposed on all passengers or only those arriving from countries with new strains of Covid-19”, says the Financial Times.
The Covid-O Committee is reportedly expected to make a final decision tomorrow on whether to put an outright ban on countries where new strains are discovered, as well as “when and how to introduce hotel quarantine”.
Government officials told the FT that Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Home Secretary Priti Patel are on the side of putting all arrivals into hotel quarantine. According to political news site Guido Fawkes, Patel told a Zoom meeting of Conservative Party supporters last week that she had been privately pushing since March last year for borders to be shut.
Amid rising support for the hotel quarantine plan, Rishi Sunak is also “understood to have concluded that the economic cost of the move is outweighed by the risks of the present travel restrictions”, The Times report.
The chancellor usually makes the case for “less draconian measures”, notes Politico’s Wickham, who suggests that “a cynic would wonder if he’s seen how the PM has moved since the discovery of the new variants and has worked out which way the wind is blowing”.
Hancock, Patel and Sunak are reportedly up against the likes of Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, who is said to be a leading advocate for more selective quarantining.
Meanwhile, Johnson has yet to confirm which side will get his backing.
An unnamed cabinet minister told the FT that “the prime minister does not want to lose the progress we’ve made with vaccination, but I don’t think he’s fully made up his mind yet on whether to go with a blanket quarantine”.
Squaring the logistics
If the quarantine advocates get their way, the question of which and how many hotel rooms will be available to house new arrivals poses another challenge.
Government sources told The Telegraph that the region around Heathrow Airport is home to around 10,000 hotel rooms, which as the paper notes “is approximately the number of people arriving in Britain via the airport every day”.
Along with the evident shortfall of rooms available, the issue of who should foot the hefty bill for putting up so many people remains to be resolved. Ministers could decide that “arrivals must pay for their own quarantine hotel rooms, significantly increasing the cost of travelling to the UK”, The Telegraph suggests.
Another option on the table is to temporarily ban all flights into the country - an extreme move that Israel is implementing from tonight. However, a government official told Politico’s Wickham that the UK was unlikely to follow suit, owing to issues such as “travel to and from Ireland, as well as damage to the economy”.
Tracking arrivals via their phone GPS to ensure they are quarantining has also been suggested, but “doesn’t seem imminent”, Wickham adds.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Joe Evans is the world news editor at TheWeek.co.uk. He joined the team in 2019 and held roles including deputy news editor and acting news editor before moving into his current position in early 2021. He is a regular panellist on The Week Unwrapped podcast, discussing politics and foreign affairs.
Before joining The Week, he worked as a freelance journalist covering the UK and Ireland for German newspapers and magazines. A series of features on Brexit and the Irish border got him nominated for the Hostwriter Prize in 2019. Prior to settling down in London, he lived and worked in Cambodia, where he ran communications for a non-governmental organisation and worked as a journalist covering Southeast Asia. He has a master’s degree in journalism from City, University of London, and before that studied English Literature at the University of Manchester.
-
Nigeria's worsening rate of maternal mortality
Under the radar Economic crisis is making hospitals unaffordable, with women increasingly not receiving the care they need
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Elevating Earth Day into a national holiday is not radical — it's practical'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
UAW scores historic win in South at VW plant
Speed Read Volkswagen workers in Tennessee have voted to join the United Auto Workers union
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Less than total recall
Editor's Letter Why our brains want to forget the darkest days of the pandemic
By Theunis Bates Published
-
'A wonky bureaucratic tweak has dramatically changed how Americans drive'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Will Aukus pact survive a second Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question US, UK and Australia seek to expand 'game-changer' defence partnership ahead of Republican's possible return to White House
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
It's the economy, Sunak: has 'Rishession' halted Tory fightback?
Today's Big Question PM's pledge to deliver economic growth is 'in tatters' as stagnation and falling living standards threaten Tory election wipeout
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Why your local council may be going bust
The Explainer Across England, local councils are suffering from grave financial problems
By The Week UK Published
-
Rishi Sunak and the right-wing press: heading for divorce?
Talking Point The Telegraph launches 'assault' on PM just as many Tory MPs are contemplating losing their seats
By Keumars Afifi-Sabet, The Week UK Published
-
'Making Russia pay for its aggression with its own assets has undeniable moral and practical appeal'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published