Jim McMahon – 2020 Comments on Air Bridges

Below is the text of the comments made by Jim McMahon, the Shadow Transport Secretary, on 9 July 2020.

This small step is welcome news. Holidaymakers and businesses were rightly incredibly keen for the government’s quarantine measures to be safely eased. Labour has said from the start that this has been a blunt tool, hindered by a lack of a comprehensive testing strategy.

The fact they have been unable to negotiate air bridges is an indictment of their failure to tackle the crisis at home. They were too slow to take lockdown, too slow to order PPE and too slow to protect our country.

Labour has consistently called for a sectoral deal that supports the whole aviation industry including the supply chain based on our six conditions. Tory Ministers have failed to act and workers are paying the price and trips are being cancelled.