Could travel this summer be stricter than last?

It’s been a stressful day for those who’ve booked foreign holidays, as the government updated the latest countries on its various coloured travel lists. No new countries were added to the green list, but some were moved to amber. On the podcast, James Forsyth explains how this decision is down to a desire to prioritise domestic reopening to liberalisation of our borders:

‘I think Boris Johnson doesn’t like closing borders instinctively, but if that’s what it takes to get rid of the one-metre rule, I suspect that might be a trade-off he would make.’

But Cindy Yu asks – if this is the guiding philosophy, when will Britain really open up, given the patchiness of vaccination in the rest of the world? Katy Balls said that it is most likely a short term measure:

‘Both in terms of the economy and also in terms of the Tory parliamentary party, I don’t think this is sustainable for the long term… I don’t think we can become like some countries.’