UK Government to update green list for foreign holidays later today

The UK Government will update England’s travel “traffic light” system today, with Portugal teetering on the edge of being removed from the country’s green list, while a handful of locations are expected to be added to the green travel list, as the holiday industry will be plunged into gloom if Portugal is removed from the current list of approved holiday destinations.

Fears about new variants will dominate discussions at the Covid-19 cabinet committee meeting this morning, and Portugal, which was added to the green list only three weeks ago, is under special scrutiny.

Government officials have not denied a report saying that ministers were considering putting Portugal on the amber list or on a green “watch list”, suggesting it could be moved on to the amber list, requiring people to self-isolate upon return to Britain, at short notice. Under either scenario, the move would throw tens of thousands of people’s holiday plans into chaos and cause dismay in the travel industry.

Yesterday Boris Johnson struck a highly cautious note ahead of the review of the rules on overseas travel, saying the government would not hesitate to move countries off the green list if the Covid situation deteriorated. He said that the government would act on the advice of its Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC), adding that it would try to let people travel where possible.

Government officials have said they expect “a few minor additions” to the green list later today, but the Prime Minister added: “We’ve got to be cautious and we’ve got to continue to put countries on the red list, and on the amber list, when it is necessary. We will have no hesitation in moving countries from the green list to the amber list to the red list, if we have to do so. The priority is to continue the vaccine rollout to protect the people of this country.”

Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, has been looking at the possibility of moving some islands into the green list including Malta, depending on the advice from the JBC, and the Canary and Balearic islands if they are prepared to review them separately from Spain.

Travel industry experts have predicted that the Canary and Balearic islands could open up to tourism, in what would be a major boost to the sector, but Whitehall insiders said there were significant doubts about putting those on the green list.

Concerns have been raised about allowing travel to the Spanish islands because of the level of air traffic to mainland Spain, as well as their abilities to carry out adequate genome sequencing to spot emerging variants.

There is more optimism about Malta, which only narrowly missed out on quarantine-free travel the last time the list was reviewed. Other European countries that could be moved to the green list are Finland and Poland.