Travel traffic light system scrapped – and changes to COVID tests for fully jabbed holidaymakers announced
A major relaxing of travel rules for people coming in and out of England have been announced by the transport secretary.
From 4 October, the current traffic light system of red, amber and green countries will be scrapped and replaced with one red list only.
Travel traffic light system scrapped – follow live updates
Anywhere not on the red list is considered green and clear for travel – there will no longer be an amber list.
Also from that date, travellers will no longer need to take pre-departure tests for travelling into England from abroad.
Then, from the end of October, fully vaccinated passengers from non-red list countries will be able to replace day-two PCR tests with cheaper lateral flow tests.
Those unvaccinated will still have to pay for PCR tests.
Anyone testing positive will need to isolate and take a free confirmatory PCR test which would be genomically sequenced to help identify new variants.
This means the new system, which is expected to stay in place at least until the New Year, should be in effect as people return from half-term breaks.
The government has also announced that from 4am on 22 September, eight destinations will be removed from the red list.
The destinations are:
• Turkey
• Pakistan
• The Maldives
• Egypt
• Sri Lanka
• Oman
• Bangladesh
• Kenya
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the UK’s high vaccination rates allow for the changes to be made
Those returning from red list countries will still need to spend 10 days in a government-approved quarantine hotel.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “Today’s changes mean a simpler, more straightforward system. One with less testing and lower costs, allowing more people to travel, see loved ones or conduct business around the world while providing a boost for the travel industry.
“Public health has always been at the heart of our international travel policy and with over 44 million people fully vaccinated in the UK, we are now able to introduce a proportionate updated structure that reflects the new landscape.”
Later speaking to reporters, Mr Shapps continued: “We wanted to bring a new, simpler, easier to navigate and cheaper system as well and so we have bought this in until the New Year at the very least and the purpose is to make it easier for people to travel without the bureaucracy, without so many tests and with a greater level of certainty – now that we have got so many people vaccinated.”
The transport secretary said the change could not have been made sooner because the scientific advice did not favour it.
The regular three-weekly update of which destinations are designated green, amber and red had been due on Thursday but it was delayed by the Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s cabinet reshuffle.
The changes will apply to England only.
From 4 October, travellers will no longer need to take pre-departure tests for travelling into England from abroad
Travel industry representatives are likely to welcome the move which allows greater freedom for individuals to travel in the lead up to Christmas.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: “Today we have simplified the travel rules to make them easier to understand and follow, opening up tourism and reducing the costs to go abroad.
“As global vaccination efforts continue to accelerate and more people gain protection from this dreadful disease, it is right that our rules and regulations keep pace.”
Transport Committee chairman and Conservative MP Huw Merriman said the changes are “welcome”.
“The committee has called out confusing watchlists and quarantines; criticised the delay in reaping the benefit of the vaccine dividend and puzzled over the high costs and lack of sequencing of PCR tests,” he said in a statement on behalf of the Commons committee.
“We note that using lateral flow tests may now incur a cost; it’s important that any alternative testing system is fairly priced and administered.
Those returning from red list countries will still need to spend 10 days in a government-approved quarantine hotel
“The need for caution is clear but with 80% of our country now vaccinated, UK travel needs a shot in the arm and this could be it.
“It’s a relief to see the government move on these issues and this announcement, timed ahead of October half-term, could have an immediate impact on the UK’s travel industry.”
Meanwhile, Conservative MP Henry Smith, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the Future of Aviation, added: “These announcements are good news for our aviation, travel and tourism businesses who have been the hardest and longest hit by the pandemic.”
A nine-year-old girl found dead in Weston-super-Mare has been named on the day police revealed a teenager had been charged with her murder.
Emergency services were called to Lime Close in the Somerset town at 6.09pm on Monday but Aria Thorpe was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police said a 15-year-old boy had been charged with her murder and that a preliminary post-mortem found she died from a single stab wound.
The teenage boy – who can’t be named due to his age – will appear at Bristol Magistrates’ Court later today.
A police cordon remains in place as forensics officers continue their work.
Flowers and tributes have been left at the scene. Pic: PA
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Superintendent Jen Appleford, from Avon and Somerset Police, said the community was in shock and Aria’s family were being supported by police.
“It is impossible to adequately describe how traumatic the past 36 hours have been for them and we’d like to reiterate in the strongest possible terms their request for privacy,” she said.
Supt Appleford said police were working with local schools and other agencies to make sure support is available.
Britain loves chocolate.
We’re estimated to consume 8.2kg each every year, a good chunk of it at Christmas, but the cost of that everyday luxury habit has been rising fast.
Whitakers have been making chocolate in Skipton in North Yorkshire for 135 years, but they have never experienced price pressures as extreme as those in the last five.
“We buy liquid chocolate and since 2023, the price of our chocolate has doubled,” explains William Whitaker, the real-life Willy Wonka and the fourth generation of the family to run the business.
William Whitaker, managing director of the company
“It could have been worse. If we hadn’t been contracted [with a supplier], it would have trebled.
“That represents a £5,000 per-tonne increase, and we use a thousand tonnes a year. And we only sell £12-£13m of product, so it’s a massive effect.”
Whitakers makes 10 million pieces of chocolate a week in a factory on the much-expanded site of the original bakery where the business began.
Automated production lines snake through the site moulding, cutting, cooling, coating and wrapping a relentless procession of fondants, cremes, crisps and pure chocolate products for customers, including own-brand retail, supermarkets, and the catering trade.
Steepest inflation in the business
All of them have faced price increases as Whitakers has grappled with some of the steepest inflation in the food business.
Cocoa prices have soared in the last two years, largely because of a succession of poor cocoa harvests in West Africa, where Ghana and the Ivory Coast produce around two-thirds of global supply.
A combination of drought and crop disease cut global output by around 14% last year, pushing consumer prices in the other direction, with chocolate inflation passing 17% in the UK in October.
Skimpflation and shrinkflation
Some major brands have responded by cutting the chocolate content of products – “skimpflation” – or charging more for less – “shrinkflation”.
Household-name brands including Penguin and Club have cut the cocoa and milk solid content so far they can no longer be classified as chocolate, and are marketed instead as “chocolate-flavour”.
Whitakers have stuck to their recipes and product sizes, choosing to pass price increases on to customers while adapting products to the new market conditions.
“Not only are major brands putting up prices over 20%, sometimes 40%, they’ve also reduced the size of their pieces and sometimes the ingredients,” says William Whitaker.
“We haven’t done any of that. We knew that long-term, the market will fall again, and that happier days will return.
“We’ve introduced new products where we’ve used chocolate as a coating rather than a solid chocolate because the centre, which is sugar-based, is cheaper than the chocolate.
“We’ve got a big product range of fondant creams, and others like gingers and Brazil nuts, where we’re using that chocolate as a coating.”
The costs are adding up
A deluge of price rises
Brazil nuts have enjoyed their own spike in price, more than doubling to £15,000 a tonne at one stage.
On top of commodity prices determined by markets beyond their control, Whitakers face the same inflationary pressures as other UK businesses.
“We’ve had the minimum wage increasing every year, we had the national insurance rise last year, and sort of hidden a little bit in this budget is a business rate increase.
“This is a small business, we turn over £12m, but our rates will go up nearly £100,000 next year before any other costs.
“If you add up all the cocoa and all the other cost increases in 2024 and 2025, it’s nearly £3m of cost increases we’ve had to bear. Some of that is returning to a little normality. It does test the relevance of what you do.”
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