Priti Patel sticks to her guns over 14-day quarantine travel rules but leaves door open for holidays

PRITI Patel today stuck to her guns over her hated 14-day quarantine plans - but gave hope to millions that holidays could be still on the cards with "travel corridors" or rapid virus tests at airports.

The Home Secretary has faced a huge backlash from Tory MPs and tourism bosses who believe the moves, which will come in from Monday, will harm the collapsing British travel industry and cost jobs.

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There were fears that the quarantine plans could remain in place for months to come.

But she stressed today that the "essential" measures - which will be in place for at least the next three weeks - will be "time-limited" and "temporary", giving hope that Brits could jet off on a getaway in weeks.

And she said the Foreign Office was in discussions about "international travel corridors" which could yet save the nation's summer holidays.

Fast-testing of passengers at airports could be one idea for how to tear down the need for a 14-day quarantine, she admitted.

Ms Patel said today: "The scientific advice is that imported cases of the virus pose more of a threat to our recovery.

"The priority is to protect people’s health and keep those in the UK safe.

"These measures are backed by science and are supported by the public, and are essential to save lives.

"Let us not throw away our hard won progress."

But travel industry experts say quarantine will cost Britain’s tourism sector as much as £15billion if it goes on through the summer.

The plan, revealed in full today, includes:

• Travellers to the UK from Monday will have to quarantine in one specific address for 14 days when they come into the UK
• They will have to fill in a form and have a receipt with them to prove they've handed over their contact details to authorities
• They will face spot checks and could face £1,000 fines if they break them
• But they will be allowed to break the two-week coronavirus quarantine to pop out for food, attend funerals and can use public transport
• Those from the Common Travel Area  - Ireland, the Channel Islands and The Isle of Man - will be exempt
• Posties, lorry drivers and diplomats will be exempt from having to isolate
• The Government confirmed there was a list of exemptions to the controversial rules - but said these were only in case of an emergency
• The measures will be reviewed every three weeks - starting in the week of June 28

Ms Patel confirmed the Government is looking at "international travel corridors" to see if there can be "bilateral" deals between "those countries which are deemed safe".

The plan - also known as "air bridges" could mean there will be hope for a summer holiday, if the number of cases can continue to drop.

"We will require bilateral agreements with countries as well, which is exactly what the FCO are working on," she said.

However, at the moment Britain has a relatively high rate, and it's not yet certain which countries would do deals with the UK.

The Home Secretary said they were looking at a range of options for how to help the industry set up a plan to recover.

She said: "This is just one component. We are speaking about track, trace and isolate, potential fast testing for passengers... there are many other aspects to how we can make aviation travel safe going forward to protect passengers and their health."

'SECOND PEAK'

Boris Johnson gave a robust defence of the measures at the Downing Street conference but also pledged to “explore the possibility of international travel corridors”.

The Prime Minister said: “Now that we’re getting the virus under control in the UK, there is a risk cases from abroad begin once again to make up a greater proportion of overall cases.

“We need to take steps now to manage that risk of these imported cases triggering a second peak.”

But even the Government’s chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance suggested this was the wrong time for quarantine.

He said the controls were most effective during the early stages of a pandemic but added it was for the politicians to “make the policy and make the timing decisions”.

Angry MPs including former PM Theresa May stood up to attack the Government over the plan before it was even revealed.

Mrs May blasted: "Instead of bringing in measures to close Britain off from the rest of the world, why is the Government not taking a lead in developing international aviation health screening standard to save jobs and ensure Britain is open for businesses?"

And MP Huw Merriman described it as the "wrong policy at the worst possible time".

Labour's Chris Bryant said the Government was acting after "the horse has bolted".

He blasted: "I don’t know why she doesn’t get this.

"She can’t enforce the quarantine when people get to their homes. She can’t even ensure that these people can’t take public transport on their way.

"She is not going to be protecting anybody.

"Can she name a single country in Europe which has a higher rate of transmission than the UK?"

Sir Graham Brady, chair of the influential 1922 committee, said: “Hundreds of thousands of jobs will be lost if the airlines are unable to fly their crucial peak summer schedules.”

And Labour's John Spellar said the measures were throwing key workers "under the bus" and thousands of people would be "thrown on the dole in the next few weeks".

The travel industry accused Ms Patel of not listening to their concerns — with ­Ryanair calling the measures “completely ineffective and useless”.

MPs have demanded the measures be scrapped in favour of a system where people get tested at the border - either coming in or out of the country.

If a quick coronavirus test can be rolled out at scale in the coming weeks, this could be possible and see visitors flood back into the country, but safely.

The Home Secretary was keen to stress that no freight or trade would be damaged by the measures.

"We are global Britain, our borders are not shut," she promised.

She also said the Government were looking at a "range of measures" which could include travel "gates" to block people coming to the country from rates of high transmission.

"I should just emphasise, this is part of our ongoing dialogue with the industry," she said.

"We will have to innovate together and look at new international aviation health screening.

"We want to be at the forefront of that, and we want to urge our industry to do that as well."

Fast coronavirus tests are being trialled in hospitals in Hampshire, and, if successful, will provide accurate results in less than 20 minutes.

The trial is expected to continue to the end of the month.

Prof Paul Hunter, from the University of East Anglia, said the fast test would be a huge step forward.

He added: “It would be much more accurate than a temperature check and you would be clear to fly. You could have another one when you return while at passport control.”

Ms Patel was asked today if SAGE were asked to discuss the measures - but she refused to answer.

Instead she said that the Home Office and other departments had taken advice from experts.

Minister Kelly Tolhurst said this afternoon: "I have been working hard with the sector to find solutions to make sure that we can get planes in the air and people on their holidays as soon as possible."

It's been reported that air-bridge deals could be sealed by as soon as the end of the month.

Today the Portuguese foreign minister said an agreement could be in place in weeks.

Augusto Santos Silva said Brits were "most welcome" with hopes for the agreement to be confirmed by the end of June.

Mr Santos Silva told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that "quarantine is an enemy of tourism".

Earlier today Heathrow's boss John Holland Kaye lashed out at the "warm words" from Government and stressed they could not allow a "health pandemic to turn into an economic pandemic".

He urged ministers to "save people's holidays" as he warned he'll have to cut jobs in weeks if there's no plan to exit the 14-day quarantine plan.

Mr Holland-Kaye told Radio 4's Today programme that passenger numbers would remain low until the Government publishes a plan for how to ditch the quarantine.

He said: "We know how quarantine will work, but there has to be an exit plan.

"We have seen warm words, we haven't seen action.

"Unless we can see that, that gives us confidence, we wont be able to take the measures that are needed to get the UK economy moving and to save people’s holidays."

The coronavirus pandemic has been "devastating" for the aviation sector and hit millions of jobs in tourism and hospitality too.

He added: "If we don't get a plan from the Government in the next few days on how we are going to reopen the economy, those jobs are at risk.

"As chief executive, I am going to have to make that decision in the next few weeks about jobs in my own company.