Holidays abroad will be officially ILLEGAL for people in England from Monday with £5,000 fine for escaping the country
PEOPLE in England and Wales face an official holiday ban in law from Monday - with the risk of a £5,000 fine for escaping.
Under new Covid laws people across the country will be officially banned from leaving the country without a reasonable excuse.
Previously the holiday ban was implied, as it was not one of the reasons people are allowed to leave their homes.
The new laws come in on Monday as part of lockdown rules being lifted, but effectively there's no big change for holidays as they are already banned.
People will face a fine of £5,000 for breaking the new law, however.
Brits already have to also fill out a form if they do want to leave the country, stating their permitted reason to do so, or they will face a £200 fine for not having the right paperwork.
It comes after:
- Ministers and experts poured cold water on the idea of holidays this summer abroad thanks to rising infection levels in Europe
- Boris Johnson said today that the third wave hitting the continent would eventually hit the UK's shores too
- This morning ministers warned Brits not to make bookings abroad yet
- A final decision isn't expected until a Government taskforce reports back in the middle of April
- Officials are mulling whether to put
Anxious Tory MPs are worried that ministers will tear up plans to allow foreign holidays again from May 17.
With the EU facing a deadly third Covid wave thanks to their woeful vaccination programme, MPs fear the borders could stay up for months to come.
One backbencher warned: “If they don’t reopen international travel in May then there will be absolute carnage at airports and for the communities that rely on them.
“There is a significant lobby in this country who think air travel is evil and are out to use this pandemic to try to destroy it.
“But it would be devastating for the many airport workers."
Another Tory said airports have become “ghost towns” and are “screaming out” for a firm timeline to reopen.
If they do not get one, then Chancellor Rishi Sunak will come under massive pressure to stump up cash for an aviation sector bailout, they said.
The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Steps) (England) Regulations 2021 laws come into force on March 29.
According to the legal document: "The Regulations also impose restrictions on leaving the United Kingdom without a reasonable excuse (regulation 8)."
The law says no-one may "leave England to travel to a destination outside the United Kingdom, or travel to, or be present at, an embarkation point for the purpose of travelling from there to a destination outside the United Kingdom" without a reasonable excuse.
Reasonable reasons to travel outside the UK
- Travel within the Common Travel Area (Channel Islands & Isle of Man)
- Where it's necessary for work
- For study outside the UK
- For volunteer or charity work
- Elite sportspeople - for training or competitions
- To fulfil a legal obligation
- To seek medical assistance or appointments
- For the purpose of moving house or viewing a house to buy or rent
- To be at the birth of a child at the mum's request
- To visit someone in a hospice or care home - but only close friends and family
- To visit someone who is dying - close friends and family only
- To attend a funeral
- For childcare purposes
- You are getting married outside the UK
- Contact with siblings for children in care
- If you don't live in the UK permanently and are going home
Human rights barrister Adam Wagner, who deciphers the lockdown rules on Twitter for the public, said: "Previously, the 'holiday ban' which the government had advertised was assumed rather than explicit - because going on holiday wasn't a reasonable excuse, it was assumed you couldn't be outside of your home to do so. But now it is explicit."
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The need for the restrictions must be reviewed by April 12, and at least once every 35 days thereafter, the legal papers say.