Labour comes out against vaccine passport plans for nightclubs
The Labour Party has this afternoon come out against plans for vaccine passports to be used to allow people access to venues like nightclubs.
On Monday Boris Johnson announced that from September it will be mandatory for people to show proof that they have been fully vaccinated in order to access such venues, as well as mass events.
The decision to make vaccine passports mandatory is understood to be due to the vaccine hesitancy among younger people.
This afternoon a spokesperson for Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer confirmed that the party was against the step.
“We oppose the use of Covid vaccination status for everyday access to venues and services”, they said. “It’s costly, open to fraud and is impractical. Being double-jabbed doesn’t prove you aren’t carrying the virus.”
“Testing for access to venues would be more efficient, and would give people and businesses more certainty”.
The plan has already met with criticism from night time industries, who said that making vaccine passports compulsory would be a “hammer blow” to the sector.
Trade body UK Hospitality said that using the certificates “will be a costly burden that run the risk of creating flashpoints between staff and customers, as well as raising potential issues with equalities legislation and the handling of customer data”.
The announcement came just hours after nightclubs were allowed to open again for the first time since the pandemic began last year.
Labour’s opposition could make it difficult for Johnson to pass a vote on the proposal, with both the Liberal Democrats and a growing number of backbench Tories opposed to the plan.