Business groups hit back at 14-day quarantine plan
Home secretary Priti Patel earlier this afternoon laid out the government’s plans to quarantine all international arrivals in England for 14 days.
However, the confirmation of the much-discussed plans, which will come into effect from 8 June, met with dismay from business groups from across the economy.
Catherine McGuiness, policy chair at Canada Corporation, said the proposals would have “a major impact on a range of sectors, including the City’s financial and professional services firms as well as our cultural institutions”.
She added that rules which seem “arbitrary rather than consistent undermine confidence and will hold us back”, and that the government should adopt an “internationally coordinated approach” to get passengers flying as soon as possible.
She pointed to “air bridges” to countries with a lower rate of infection as a possibility.
So too did Richard Burge, the chief executive of the London Chamber of Commerce, who said the measures send out “the message that the UK is closed for business, at a time when we are beginning to restart our economy”.
In a letter sent to members of the government including Patel earlier today, Burge said: “This blanket aviation proposal doesn’t appear to be risk-based.
“If it was, it would recognise that arrivals from some countries with much lower transmission levels than the UK and low incidence of the disease would not increase our risk, provided they adopted our social distancing protocols on arrival”.
British Chambers of Commerce chief executive Adam Marshall echoed Burge’s words, saying that “the safe re-establishment of connections to key markets and trade partners must now be a top priority for the government.
“Air bridges must be put in place swiftly for the sake of the many industries and livelihoods that depend on the UK’s connectivity across the world. Any review process should consult widely with affected business communities all across the UK”, he added.
Airlines have been among the most consistent opponents of the quarantine plan, with bosses of prominent carriers such as Easyjet, Tui, and Virgin having already written to Boris Johnson laying out their concerns over the scheme.
In an open letter co-ordinated by Airlines UK, they wrote: “An open-ended quarantine, with no set end date, will make an already critical situation for UK aviation, and all the businesses we support, even worse”.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary, who has been one of the quarantine plans’ fiercest critics, said it was “ineffective and completely useless”.
Speaking in parliament today, MPs from both sides of the chamber have also voiced their concerns over the plan.
Former prime minister Theresa May, who called for the UK to take a lead in establishing a global aviation health screening standard said it would “close Britain off from the rest of the world”.
She added that without global air travel, “there is no global Britain”.
Former cabinet minister Theresa Villiers also called on Patel to scrap the “blanket quarantine” and bring in “air bridges” to save jobs.