By Ben Kerrigan–
Using so-called vaccine passports to decide whether people can enter pubs would go against the “British instinct”, Sir Keir Starmer has said.
The Labour leader has criticised the idea of vaccine passports. Starmer told the Daily Telegraph it would be “wrong in principle” to ask landlords to check customers’ Covid jab certificates.
It follows the suggestion by the prime minister has suggested pub-goers could be asked to provide a vaccine certificate, after all adults have been offered a jab by the end of July.,
A government review is looking at whether this system could help to reopen the economy in England. Under the government’s four-step plan to ease England’s lockdown, legal limits on social contact could be lifted by 21 June, if strict conditions are met.
The idea of implementing vaccine passports would discriminate against those who opt against the scheme and quickly spread to other sectors of society, freezing them out of most normal societal activities, including attending the theatres
Pilots beginning this month will look at ventilation, one-way systems, and how the virus spreads at indoor and outdoor events.
But Sir Keir said: “My instinct is that… [if] we get the virus properly under control, the death rates are near zero, hospital admissions very, very low, that the British instinct in those circumstances will be against vaccine passports.
“I think that this idea that we sort of outsource this to individual landlords is just wrong in principle.”
He added that “this is really difficult and I’m not going to pretend there’s a clear black and white, yes-no easy answer on this”.
Labour would look at any government proposals before deciding whether to oppose them, he said.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said the government seemed “utterly incapable of making itsmind up on Covid certificates”, adding: “This latest wheeze is the worst of all worlds.”
“As well as burdening struggling pubs with extra cost, the idea that businesses can voluntarily bar certain customers, who may not even have been offered a vaccine, is deeply illiberal,” he said.
Labour’s Mark Drakeford, First Minister of Wales, said last week he had spoken to Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove and the first ministers of Scotland and Northern Ireland about the idea.
The system had to be “fair and reliable” and there were “practical and ethical challenges to face”, he added.
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said her government is “thinking about” forms of certification as the country emerges from lockdown.
Downing Street said an ongoing review was looking at how testing or vaccination could be used to play a role in opening the economy, and would consider the ethical, privacy, legal and operational aspects.
Michael Gove is to deliver a report on April 11, weighing up the costs and benefits of establishing a covid vaccine.