You should not travel to amber list countries. Unless it is to “visit friends”, according to the Environment Secretary. Instead, pack your bags and fly off to a green list location except, hang on, foreign travel is “dangerous” and “not for this year” according to health minister Lord Bethell.
And for goodness sake, put India on the red list unless, of course, the Prime Minister is anxiously awaiting his post-Brexit trip to Delhi.
Put another way, if ministers do not seem to understand the rules around foreign travel, how is the public supposed to? Such contradictions hark back to the days of local lockdowns last autumn when ministers — including Boris Johnson — would go on television or radio and be unable to clarify what restrictions local people faced.
No minister does a broadcast round without access to a weighty brief that covers virtually any question. In normal times, such abstruseness is merely unhelpful to the Government. During a pandemic, it is actively dangerous to the public.
Covid-19 will always generate uncertainties — from the data and risk analysis to potential variants. But ministers must stop speaking into microphones only to contradict their cabinet colleagues.
Second, the Government must make clear that all decisions are being taken on the basis of data. If amber list countries are off the table, explain why. The British people want a holiday in the sun, but they also understand this pandemic is not over and should be treated as adults.
And third, ministers must plan for a longer-term fix. Covid-19 will be with us for years, and so vaccination passports are key to the return of international travel, particularly as the European Union appears set to give the green light to UK travellers who have been fully vaccinated.
Johnson must end this confusion and tell his ministers that unless they are more careful in what they say, their political careers — unlike British holidaymakers — will be beached.
