Inside Politics: Labour plans to vote against vaccine passports

Keir Starmer has told his MPs he’s ready to oppose certification plans as things stand, writes Adam Forrest

(Getty Images)

Sometimes pride comes after a fall. A beaming Donald Trump has revealed he keeps a statue of himself in his Mar-a-Lago office, his self-regard undiminished by election defeat. “The only god he’s ever worshipped,” said one cheeky commentator. Boris Johnson has been beaming for several months now – sitting atop his lofty vaccine poll bounce. But he now faces an almighty backlash over plans for vaccine passports, with Keir Starmer threatening to hand him defeat in the Commons.

Inside the bubble

Political commentator Andrew Grice on what to look out for today:

The environment select committee will issue a report warning that almost 10 per cent of households have experienced food poverty during lockdown. Culture secretary Oliver Dowden will launch a unit to enforce a new code for tech platforms such as Facebook. And foreign secretary Dominic Raab will begin a visit to Indonesia and Brunei, where he will discuss the coup in Myanmar.

Daily briefing

PAUSE FOR THOUGHT: Boris Johnson’s government is facing its biggest challenge since the vaccine rollout began. A trial of the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab on children and teenagers has been paused while the UK’s medical regulator investigates a possible link with rare blood clots. It comes after a top European Medicines Agency (EMA) official – speaking in a personal capacity – said there did appear to be a link with the AstraZeneca jab and rare blood clots. The EMA is set to reveal its formal findings today or Thursday. So what happens next? Prof Andrew Pollard, leading the Oxford trial, said his team awaits more information from the Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The PM said getting vaccinated was “the key thing” and the MHRA’s advice was to keep on giving the jab. Dr Maggie Wearmouth, who sits on the government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), told The Telegraph that slowing down the rollout for the under-50s may now be necessary to maintain trust. “The issue is about safety and public confidence.”

CHECKPOINT GNARLY: Boris Johnson is also facing an uphill battle to get vaccine passports through parliament. Labour will vote against their introduction as things stand, according to a briefing seen by The Huff Post. With the Lib Dems and dozens of Tory MPs firmly opposed, the plan looks in jeopardy. Could the SNP come to the rescue? Westminster leader Ian Blackford said the party “would look constructively at any proposals”. The PM was at pains to point out the limits of his ambition – insisting people will not need “any kind of certificate” for restaurants and pubs. But No 10 could not rule out using certification for entry to non-essential shops. The PM’s spokesperson declined to rule out the idea of vaccine passports for clothes shops. Tory MP Steve Baker said would usher in a “miserable dystopia of checkpoint Britain”, while his colleague David Davis said it was “plain as a pikestaff” ID cards would be extended to cover future outbreaks of the flu. “Once you’ve once you’ve established the software, it won’t stop there.”

LOCAL PARTY, FOR LOCAL PEOPLE: Lib Dem leader Ed Davey has predicted his party will have a “good night” in next month’s local elections. But he told The Independent he has no intention of quitting even if they don’t. Davey did not appear worried by the latest Savanta Comres poll showing the Lib Dems on just six per cent. “We think the Lib Dems are on the up in local communities,” he said. “I don’t want to make predictions, but despite the weird year it feels that things are coming our way.” Launching his party’s local election campaign, Davey has demanded more council involvement in climate change policies. He said councils would be given around one-third of the £150bn his party has proposed for green projects. In other local election news, Sadiq Khan promised a review of drugs policy in the capital that will look at the decriminalising of cannabis. Launching his re-election campaign, the London mayor said it was time for “fresh ideas” around drugs.

STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE: A Tory peer who denied we are in a pandemic looks set to keep her post as a director at the Foreign Office. Helena Morrissey’s claim that the Covid crisis was “exaggerated” and had been started by “fake videos” from the Chinese Communist Party sparked calls for her to be disciplined. But No 10 indicated that the PM had not spoken to her about her controversial claims (first reported by The Independent). Meanwhile, the Moderna vaccine begins its rollout today – with patients in Carmarthenshire in Wales becoming the first in the UK to receive it. Nicola Sturgeon revealed that the first Moderna consignment has arrived in Scotland too. It come as a new document produced by the government’s scientific advisers revealed that England will suffer a sharp fall in vaccine doses, with numbers tumbling by up to half a million a week until the end of July. No 10 insisted the programme was still on track to offer a jab to every adult by the end of July.

HISTORY BOY: Alex Salmond has said negotiations for Scottish independence should start immediately after the Holyrood election if there’s a majority of pro-indy MSPs. Salmond – launching his Alba party’s plans with typically pompous historical references to Robert the Bruce and 14th century Scottish barons – said talks between Nicola Sturgeon and Boris Johnson should begin in “week one” of the new parliament’s term. Salmond suggested Sturgeon would be quite wrong to get “pigeonholed” into a referendum, claiming there was a “range of tactics” she could use to get what she (and he) wants. In Northern Ireland, meanwhile, the Assembly has been recalled early to discuss the disturbing violence seen in some loyalist areas. Politicians are united in calling for it end – but divided over why it erupted. Sinn Fein MLA Gerry Kelly claimed the political rhetoric from the DUP hadn’t helped. “Political figures in unionism are winding young people up,” he said.

PICKING UP THE PACE? Despite all of the EU’s vaccine woes, most western European countries should have enough Covid jabs to immunise the majority of their citizens by the end of June, a new report has revealed. Italy, Germany, France, Spain and the Netherlands are on track to vaccinate more than 55 per cent of their population by then, according to a EU Commission memo seen by Bloomberg. The 1 April memo shows that the EU Commission now expects most countries in the bloc to hit its vaccination target earlier than expected. It comes as France steps up its campaign by opening 35 “vaccinodromes” across the country – including the Stade de France in Paris. Meanwhile, Joe Biden has ruled out the use of vaccine passports, as the US begins to open back up again. “The government is not now, nor will be, supporting a system that requires Americans to carry a credential,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki. No 10 will be mulling that statement over very carefully.

On the record

“The last thing we should do is allow Covid to have the victory of changing our country forever into the miserable dystopia of checkpoint Britain.”

Tory MP Steve Baker on vaccine passport plans.

From the Twitterati

“Fantastic that 3 in 5 adults have now been vaccinated across the UK. Thank you to everyone involved in the vaccine roll-out.”

Matt Hancock boasts about the latest vaccine figures…

“‘Cry freedom!’ That’s what YOU said the vaccine rollout would enable us to do

Matt Hancock. What kind of dystopian freedom is this? Vaccine passports, non-stop testing, travel ban, social distancing & face masks forever, even in classrooms. What’s fantastic about any of that?”

…but right-wing radio host Julia Hartley-Brewer says he should be ashamed.

Essential reading

John Rentoul, The Independent: Vaccine passports? Neither Johnson nor Starmer can decide

Vince Cable, the Independent: Elevating the Union Jack to religious status risks more division

Polly Toynbee, The Guardian: Sleaze fells Tory governments – it could be a gift to Labour

Frida Ghitis, CNN: Why Joe Biden is a man in a hurry

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