Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has defended the introduction of 10-year jail sentences for those who lie about their travel at the UK border as “appropriate”.
Under new measures due to come into force from Monday, UK and Irish residents arriving in England from 33 “red list” countries will have to pay up to £1,750 to quarantine for 10 days in government-managed hotel rooms.
As part of the enforcement of the new action, anyone who tries to conceal they had been in a “red list” country in the 10 days before their arrival will face a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
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People arriving in the UK from ‘red list’ countries will have to quarantine in hotels
Mr Shapps explained how the fresh restrictions are being introduced due to the government’s concerns about new coronavirus variants being imported, or becoming more widespread, in the UK.
“What we’re dealing with now are the variants and, with variants, we cannot risk it in these final stages – where we’ve got the vaccine rolled out – that we might end up with a difficulty from variations, although we think so far that we’ll be able to take care of them through the vaccines,” he told Sky News.
“And, because of that, we think… things like prison sentences for lying about being in one of those red list countries are appropriate.”
Mr Shapps said that travel – at 16-20,000 people a day – was 95% down on last year’s level, with less than 1,000 a day arriving from “red list” countries.
The government has more than 5,000 hotel rooms immediately available for people to quarantine in, he said.
“By next week, when people will have to pay to do this, £1,750 package on top of their costs of getting here via an indirect route, I think we’ll find the numbers are actually pretty small,” the transport secretary added.
Mr Shapps also cast doubt on whether Britons would be able to enjoy a summer holiday this year, either in the UK or abroad, amid the concerns about new COVID variants.
“I’m afraid I can’t give you a definitive ‘will there or will there not be’ the opportunity to take holidays this next year, either at home or abroad,” he said.
In Scotland, all international travellers arriving into Scotland – not just those from “red list” countries – will have to stay in a quarantine hotel.
There are currently no international flights operating to Wales or Northern Ireland.