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Good Morning. When the government released the details of its review of the Covid status certificates case earlier this month, it didn’t attract a great deal of attention. In part, that was because Boris Johnson was already registered as a skeptic. And in part that’s because there has been a lot of confusion about what is being proposed anyway. At one point, the media was limited to talking about “vaccine passports.” Later, people began to differentiate between a vaccine document for use in international travel and another for domestic use, when applying for a job or to access a place. And then these “vaccine passports” were renamed “Covid status certificates” as the ministers made it clear that they wanted people who have not been vaccinated to get the same benefits by submitting an application to show a recent negative test. .
But yesterday, in a briefing with the Commons liaison committee, Johnson pushed the idea to the top of the news agenda by suggesting he’d be happy to see pubs shut out people who haven’t been vaccinated.
Subsequent advisers suggested that what he meant was that pubs could exclude people without Covid status certificates, but his comment still constituted the clearest proof yet that we are heading into a world where access to many is likely. events or places depends. in being able to produce the correct sheet of paper or the appropriate notification on your phone. Like my colleague Jessica Elgot The government can reportedly encourage this by allowing pubs that impose these conditions to ignore social distancing rules.
Subsequent MPs are debating the extension of Covid restrictions and this topic is sure to come up in the debate. This is what Steve Baker, one of the most skeptical conservatives of the confinement, posted on Twitter last night.
Steve Baker MP FRSA
(@SteveBakerHW)🚷 National Covid Certificates (Vaccine Passports with Tests) create a two-tier society.
Pregnant women and groups with more doubts about vaccines will not be able to live a normal life without great difficulties.
🐇 We are so far down in the rabbit hole that we have forgotten that we fell.
This morning Ed Miliband, the shadow business secretary revealed that Labor was also concerned about the prime minister’s plan. He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain:
If the government has evidence that this is necessary for people to go to places of hospitality, let’s look at that evidence …
And indeed, if necessary, why would you leave it to individual owners? If this were really a public health measure, I wouldn’t be saying, ‘Well, it will be an owner’s discretion,’ I would be saying, ‘This is the government’s opinion, this is safe.’ So there are many, many unanswered questions about this.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30 am: The Department of Work and Pensions publishes annual poverty figures.
9.30 am: Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labor leader, delivers an election campaign statement.
10 am: Officials from the Department of Education provide evidence to the Commons public accounts committee on Covid and education.
10.30 am: Labor asks an urgent question in the Commons on the Greensill Capital issue.
11am: Ed Miliband, secretary of parallel companies, delivers a speech on jobs and the green economy. Like my colleague Heather stewart reports, he will say interest-free government loans should be available to help up to a million households buy electric cars over the next two years.
12:00 h: Downing Street is expected to hold a lobby briefing.
After 12:30 p.m. M .: The MPs are expected to begin their debate on the extension of the Coronavirus Law and the Covid restrictions. Voting on the five related motions (pdf) will begin at 5 pm.
Afternoon: EU leaders hold a virtual meeting where export regulations for vaccines will be discussed.
2 pm: Public Health England publishes its weekly Covid surveillance report.
2.30 p.m.: George Eustice, the secretary of the environment, testifies to the Commons environmental committee.
Politics Live has been primarily focused on Covid for the past year and today I will cover the developments of the coronavirus in the UK, as well as the Westminster policy not related to the coronavirus. For world news on coronavirus, read our live world blog.
I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, put “Andrew” somewhere and you’re more likely to find it. I try to answer questions and if they are of general interest I will post the question and answer above the line (ATL), although I cannot promise to do this for everyone.
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