Keir Starmer says he supports vaccine passports for sports events

Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer said today that he was ready to support a plan for “passports plus testing” to enable mass-attendance at events such as sporting fixtures – which could save the government from an embarrassing defeat in the Commons.

Starmer said he was in favour of the use of so-called ‘vaccine passports’ in such instances, but said he would rule out checks to access key services like healthcare or food shops.

Starmer also suggested the government should “look again” at the 16 August date for double-vaccinated people to be freed from the requirement to self-isolate.