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More than 70 MPs, including more than 40 Conservatives, have sent a warning shot to Boris Johnson by forming a major cross-party campaign against the use of vaccine passports in the UK.
The Prime Minister has said there will be “definitely” be a role for vaccine passports for Britons heading abroad, and ministers reported that they are discussing a new traffic light scheme to prioritize travel to countries with high vaccination rates.
But the government is also considering the possible domestic use of COVID-19 certification to assist with the reopening of some sectors of the economy after closure, as well as to reduce the need for social distancing.
Johnson has suggested that someone’s vaccination status, their possible immunity after they have recovered from the coronavirus, or a negative test could be part of that proposal.
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PM confirms the role of ‘certification’
It has even touted the idea that individual owners can decide whether to enforce the use of COVID certification in their pubs, leading to the idea being dubbed a “newspapers for the pub” scheme.
The Daily Telegraph reported that COVID passports will be tested in a few weeks at pilot events, such as the FA Cup final, the World Snooker Championship, and possibly the Brit Awards, and attendees will be asked to take a coronavirus try both before and after.
A government spokesman said “no decisions have been made,” adding: “It could be a tool that we consider as part of the pilots, but no more than that.”
A small number of soccer games are on a list of pilot events for the return of crowds, and it is understood that a possible COVID passport test would not be used in every game.
Meanwhile, both The Sun and The Times reported that when overseas vacations are allowed again, overseas destinations will be categorized into green, amber and red countries, based on their COVID rates.
Britons traveling to green-listed countries would not have to self-quarantine upon return, according to reports.
Currently, countries such as Israel, the US, Seychelles, the United Arab Emirates, Malta, and Bahrain are among the highest vaccination rates in the world.
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‘Unnecessary’ Vaccine Passports – George Eustice
Amid mounting concerns in Westminster about the possible use of COVID certification, a group of multi-party politicians have signed a pledge to oppose the measure.
His action, in a week in which Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer suggested the The “British instinct” will be against The introduction of vaccine passports for places like pubs suggests Johnson could face a battle trying to get plans for COVID certification through the House of Commons.
Signatories to the pledge include top Tory COVID rebels like Mark Harper and Steve Baker, who lead the COVID Recovery Group (CRG) of Conservative MPs, former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith and former Cabinet Ministers Esther McVey, Andrew Mitchell. and Sir. John Redwood.
Another Conservative signatory, Sir Graham Brady, who chairs the influential 1922 Committee of Conservative Backbenchers, said: “Certification of COVID status would be divisive and discriminatory.
“With high levels of vaccination protecting the vulnerable and making transmission less likely, we should aim to return to normal life, not to put permanent restrictions.”
A group of 20 Labor MPs have signed the compromise, including shadow former Home Secretary Diane Abbott and shadow former Chancellor John McDonnell.
Labor Baroness Shami Chakrabarti and former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn, who now sits as an independent MP, have also joined the campaign.
“International travel is a luxury, but participating in your own community is a fundamental right,” said Baroness Chakrabarti, who used to lead the civil liberties and human rights group Liberty.
“So COVID internal passports are an authoritative step too far.”
Almost all Liberal Democrats have signed the compromise, and his party leader Sir Ed Davey this week called the use of COVID passports in the UK “illiberal” and “impractical”.
“As we begin to properly control this virus, we should begin to regain our freedoms, vaccine passports, essentially COVID identification cards, will take us in the other direction,” he said.
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Several fellow Labor and Democrats have also joined the cross-party campaign, as well as organizations such as Liberty, Big Brother Watch and the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants.
Sam Grant, Liberty policy and campaign manager, said any COVID passport system risks creating a “two-tier society” and could further “inequality and division.”
Big Brother Watch editor Silkie Carlo warned that the UK was “in real danger of becoming a society of control where anyone from gorillas to bosses could demand to see our newspapers.”
And Minnie Rahman, campaign director for JCWI, said that “migrant communities face significant barriers to accessing the vaccine,” adding: “Any recovery plan that runs the risk of increasing racial discrimination and leaving people behind it is deliberately doomed. “
The campaign pledge states: “We oppose the divisive and discriminatory use of COVID status certification to deny people access to general services, businesses or jobs.”
