France may be added to UK’s travel ‘red list’, warns Boris Johnson
Tougher border restrictions with France including adding the country to the UK’s so-called travel red list may be needed “very soon”, the Prime Minister has said.
Boris Johnson told MPs that the government “will have to look at” quarantine measures for hauliers coming into the UK from France “just because of the ambiguity about the effectiveness of the vaccine” rollout across the continent.
“We now, in all seriousness, need to look at the situation at the Channel. We can’t rule out tougher measures, and if it’s necessary to bring in testing I think we will do so,” he said.
France last week imposed fresh restrictions in 16 regions across the country including Paris, following a sharp spike in infections. More than 300 per 100,000 people in France were infected with coronavirus at the last official count, with the figure rising to 500 per 100,000 in the capital.
Scientists believe between 5 and 10 per cent of the country’s Covid cases are the South African coronavirus variant, which is thought to be partially resistant to available vaccines.
“We will take a decision, not matter how tough, to interrupt those flows if we think it is necessary to protect public health and stop those variants coming in. It may be we have to do it very soon,” Johnson said this afternoon.
It comes as just 11.7 per cent of France’s adult population have received their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control’s Covid Vaccine Tracker. That compares to more than 50 per cent of Britain’s adult population that have received their first injection.
Johnson said yesterday that there was “no doubt” that a third wave of coronavirus sweeping the continent would “wash onto our shores” in due course.
But speaking at Parliament’s Liaison Committee this afternoon, the PM warned that placing France on the list of red list countries would result in “very serious disruption” to Britain’s food supplies.
“Putting France on the red list… with all the consequences that would have for UK supplies and cross-Channel movements — it is something that we will have to look at,” he said, adding that Britain was unable to “put the whole of the world on a red list”.
It comes amid an ongoing dispute between the UK and EU over access to vaccine supplies as the bloc scrambles to plug a shortfall in doses.
The EU this morning said it would implement tougher restrictions on vaccine exports to Britain if the UK. The fresh measures, which are due to go before EU leaders tomorrow, will stop short of a total ban on vaccine exports but are likely to further enflame tensions with Britain.
Exports of coronavirus vaccines to the UK will now be based on “reciprocity and proportionality”, according to European Commission president Ursula Von der Leyen.
It means border officials will need to take into account the vaccination rate and vaccine supply of countries before shipments can be authorised.
Johnson insisted the “partnership we have with our European colleagues is very important”, stressing that discussions across the Channel to ease the deadlock were ongoing.
“I don’t think blockades of either vaccines or ingredients is sensible — the long-term damage done by blockades can be very considerable,” he said.
Italy became the first country to trigger the vaccine export mechanism earlier this month, when it blocked the shipment of 250,000 doses of the Astrazeneca vaccine to Australia due to supply shortages in the Mediterranean country.
Astrazeneca has insisted that any hold-up of vaccine supplies to the UK will likely be minimal, with the bulk of Britain’s vaccines supplies made within the UK.
The government has insisted it is on track to offer a first dose of the Covid vaccine to all over-50s by 15 April and all adults in the UK by 31 July despite ongoing disputes.
A Downing Street spokesperson said: “We are all fighting the same pandemic — vaccines are an international operation; they are produced by collaboration by great scientists around the world. And we will continue to work with our European partners to deliver the vaccine rollout.
“We remain confident in our supplies and… our plan to cautiously reopen society via our road map also remains unchanged.”