Jim McMahon – 2021 Comments on Global Travel Taskforce’s Report

The comments made by Jim McMahon, the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, on 9 April 2021.

Time and again the UK Government have been devoid of strategy when it comes to protecting our borders against Covid.

At a time when cases are rising across Europe and the threat of variants remains deeply worrying, we need a comprehensive hotel quarantine system, to help protect the gains of the vaccine. The first priority has to be keeping people safe.

Labour will look at these proposals, but proper details and clarity about strategy are vital. This must include the criteria by which the ‘traffic lights’ will be decided, as well as clear information for travellers and industry, about what test will be required and resulting costs.

It will take a long time for international travel to recover from the impact of the virus. The Government must come up with a comprehensive financial support package for the aviation sector and its supply chain which supports almost a quarter of a million jobs and protects the environment and stimulates further decarbonisation of the industry.