UK might consider island policy again
The UK government could reintroduce an ‘island policy’ for international travel, which would see island groups classed separately to their mainland
Appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Shapps hinted that the government could consider popular island destinations such as the Canaries, Balearics and Greek islands independently of their respective mainlands, as it did last year.
Independent MP Margaret Ferrier asked Courts on 26 May whether the Department for Transport’s traffic light system would include an island policy ‘to reopen routes to relatively low-risk regions of nations, as was implemented in summer 2020’, to which Courts responded that ‘the government will take an island approach for border measures where possible’.
Updates to traffic light system made every three weeks
He also emphasised that the traffic light system is being reviewed every three weeks, ‘unless concerning evidence means we need to act faster to protect public health’.
Last summer, island destinations often had lower rates of Covid infection than their respective mainlands, with some island governments claiming it was unfair that they were initially penalised by source markets such as the UK owing to spikes in infection hundreds of miles away.