EU is set to agree to allow in British tourists who can prove they’ve had Covid jabs

The EU is expected to sign off on plans for Britons who have had both jabs to fly to Europe without having to quarantine or take a Covid test. 

The European Union’s new plan would see member states adopting uniform entry requirements, meaning vaccinated holidaymakers from low-risk countries – such as the UK – would be able to enter France, Spain, Italy and other hotspots.

Britain will be included on an EU expanded ‘green list’ of permitted holiday travel on Wednesday as the bloc’s ambassadors are set to confirm a European Commission proposal lift restrictions on well-vaccinated nations, it is understood. 

It will also be recommended that member states prepare digital portals allowing Britons to use the NHS app as a vaccine passport, the Daily Telegraph reports. 

Those without vaccinations will be required to present a negative Covid test or evidence of immunity.

The news comes just as the ban on non-essential travel was lifted and Downing Street doubled down on its insistence that people should only be holidaying in the 12 countries on the ‘green list’.

They should not be travelling to the dozens of popular destinations on the ‘amber list’ unless it is essential, a spokesman said.   

And Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Britons should not travel to amber or red list countries or territories ‘unless you have an exceptional reason’. 

And the boss of British Airways has now called on the Government to open up air travel to low-risk countries. 

In a rallying cry to Ministers, Sean Doyle said data on vaccination and infection rates for countries including the US, Spain and Greece made a ‘compelling case’ for putting them on the green list for quarantine-free travel from early next month.

Yesterday Matt Hancock came under fire over the Government’s travel restrictions, with one senior Tory asking ‘what the point’ is of having a passport.

The Health Secretary appeared to rule out holidays to France, Spain and elsewhere by warning people should not travel to countries on the amber list unless they have an ‘exceptional’ reason to do so.

Huw Merriman, who chairs the Transport Select Committee, said: ‘Given that he’s just effectively turned the amber list into red, can I ask him what the point of me having my passport is anymore?

‘Covid will always mutate, the vaccine will always have to keep up.

‘We managed to vaccinate 99% of the mortality risk.

‘When will this Government actually take a little bit of risk and allow people to get on with their lives again?’

Mr Hancock replied: ‘The red, amber and green lists are there reflecting risks that there are in other places around the world.

‘The amber list of course means that you have to quarantine at home, the red list means quarantine in a hotel, the green list means that we think that it is safe to travel.

‘So of course he should get his passport out, he can get on a plane to Portugal or one of the other countries.

‘It allows for some careful foreign travel, but my first duty is to protect the lives of people here in the UK and the best way to do that right now is to make sure we are cautious on international travel to protect the opening up here at home.’

Last week Boris Johnson said the quarantine-free travel green list will not be expanding ‘very rapidly’.

The Prime Minister said: ‘We will certainly be making sure that people travelling abroad will be subject to all the tests and constraints to prevent the virus being reimported.

‘That’s why it’s such a tiny list of countries and I don’t expect we will be adding to it very rapidly. We will be maintaining a very, very tough border regime for the foreseeable future. It is just too early to talk about exactly what the summer will be like.’

His downbeat outlook came as 18 airport bosses signed a letter urging Mr Johnson and his counterparts in the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to initiate ‘a more meaningful restart of travel’. 

They wrote: ‘We believe the current extremely limited green list of countries demonstrates that the UK is being overly cautious and will fail to grasp the opportunities resulting from the successful rollout of the vaccine.

‘There are a million jobs in aviation, with a further half a million jobs relying on aviation in the tourism sector.

This is quite apart from the many sectors that need aviation in order to trade with both existing and new, developing markets. With the current restrictions the Government is applying, those jobs remain at very high risk.’

They warn ‘serious failures to manage the border’ also threaten the recovery.

There have been queues of up to seven hours at Heathrow as border guards check passengers’ Covid paperwork manually and electronic passport gates remain closed.

Brits are warned they must wear face masks on the beach or face £100 fines as they land in Portugal and emotional families are reunited in Gibraltar as holidays FINALLY restart

• British tourists were handed face masks and sanitiser as they landed in Portugal
• Officials asked them about their stay as they touched down in Faro, the Algarve
• Passengers were asked to produce proof of a negative PCR test and a form
• The country was added to as a green list country to the UK’s traffic light scheme

British tourists were handed face masks, sanitiser and asked to provide full details about their stay in Portugal as they touched down in the country for the start of long-awaited sunshine breaks.

All Brits arriving the country were also warned by officials at Faro airport of the strict rules for wearing face masks in public places, which includes keeping them on while on the beach or they could be hit with hefty £100 fines.

Passengers arriving were asked by immigration officials to produce proof of a negative PCR test and show that they had completed a locator form, with details of where they are staying before being allowed to proceed to the baggage hall.

In Gibraltar, support worker Lynne Wilson clinked glasses with husband David and her Rock-based daughter Kelly Dolan after a tearful airport reunion with toddler granddaughter Gabriela. 

It comes as the Portuguese tourism minister announced at the weekend that ‘everything is open’ for British tourists when borders open.   

Restaurants, coffee shops and bars have been opened up in time for an expected influx of holidaymakers next week, Rita Marques revealed.

She told the BBC : ‘We have been working hard to tackle the pandemic, as I said, so restaurants and coffee shops and shops and everything is open as from May 1.’

Amongst the first Brits to arrive in Faro today was honeymoon couple Siddhant Majithia, 26, and his wife Hemisha, 24.

The young couple only married two weeks ago and admitted that they were not looking forward to the prospect of honeymooning in Britain and were relieved when the Government placed Portugal on the green list. 

Siddhant, an optician from Leicester revealed that they only booked their Portugal honey last Thursday. He said: ‘It’s great to get away and we’re very lucky to have got on this plane. We had to cancel three other honeymoons before this one because of the travel restrictions.

‘It was very frustrating and getting us down because the thought of a honeymoon in England with unpredictable wedding wasn’t very exciting.’

Hemisha, a physiotherapist added: ‘We were thinking of doing a road trip to the Lake District, which isn’t exactly a memorable honeymoon given the unpredictable British weather.

‘Now we’ve got the chance for a great break in the sun and I’m really looking forward to it.’

Romina Depino, 28 and her sister Teresa, 43, said that Portugal was their first break in over a year.

Teresa, from Surrey said: ‘It feels great to be here. The sun is shining, it’s warm and I just want to lie by the pool and chill. I’m a care worker for elderly people and it’s been a really difficult year and I really need this holiday.

‘We were meant to be going to Turkey but then it was placed on the red list, so we’ve ended up in Portugal, which isn’t bad really.’

Onel Hernandez, 28 arrived in Faro with his fiancé Kirsha, 27, her sister Hazel, 18, and their daughter Dreamy, two.

The family revealed that they were staying for two weeks and had been saving up all year for the break.

Onel, who lives in Norwich said: ‘It’s great to be back on holiday and something we’ve really missed. The one good thing about the lockdown is that it gave me a chance to save some money for a decent family holiday.

‘We only booked the holiday two weeks, and it was quite expensive because there is a lot of demand for Portugal. But it’s worth it because given what the whole world has gone through over the past year, we all need a holiday.’ 

British holidaymakers celebrated with drinks in the sun today after jetting to Gibraltar on the first ‘green list’ flight from the UK.

Lynne, 59, clinked glasses with husband David and her daughter Kelly, 33, after a tearful airport reunion with granddaughter Gabriela.

Lynne, from Cambridge, wiping away a tear as she sat Gabriela, one last week, on her lap after hugging her as she came out of arrivals and watched her walk towards for the first time, gushed: ‘Last time I saw her was at Christmas when Kelly came to the UK.

‘Gabriela couldn’t walk then so this is a very emotional moment for me. She started walking on April 1 and she’s been running since then.

‘We booked last year for May 11 but that flight got cancelled and we rebooked for today. We’re here for six days and we’re going to make the most of the sunshine and being with family again.’

Fuel service engineer David, sipping his first pint in near-eighty degree Fahrenheit heat at a bar in Gibraltar’s iconic Casemates Square after leaving Heathrow Airport on the BA492 flight which touched down at 11am local time, added: ‘This beer tastes great.

‘The sun makes it feel so much better. It was cold and raining when we left London.’

Mark Walker, enjoying his first pint in a neighbouring terrace bar a few feet away with wife Jo before checking into their nearby hotel after coming in on the same flight, added: ‘We left our home in Devon at midnight because we weren’t sure how chaotic the airport would be and we knew parts of the M4 were closed.

‘We got to Heathrow around 4am and we haven’t had any sleep.

‘But it’s been worth it so far. It’s great being able to travel again.

‘We normally take several short breaks abroad every year. We were booked to be on the Greek island of Skiathos right now but when that got cancelled I decided to try booking Gibraltar last month because I thought it would be a dead cert for the green list and I wasn’t wrong.’

Jo, 50, added: ‘Mark’s been here twice on day trips years ago but it’s my first time on the Rock. It’s just nice to get away and be in the sun. The weather was decent in Devon in April but it was a rotten May.

‘That’s why we stopped off for a drink before we got to the hotel and we’re still lugging our suitcases. We’ll savour this first pint, and maybe a second, and then do the check-in.

‘We’ve got a walking tour booked for Wednesday and I imagine we’ll make it to the top of the Rock at some point to see the Barbary apes.

‘But basically we’re just looking forward to a relaxing six days away after so long without a holiday.’  

Finance director Max Arks, 36, the first off the flight with pal Warwick Howard, 37, said: ‘It’s the first chance we’ve had to go on holiday for ages so we just thought, ‘Why not!’

‘I’ve come to see friends and mix a bit of pleasure with business. We’ll have a few beers while we’re here.’

Luke Barnard, 26, who flew in from his home in Chelmsford, Essex, to get married on the Rock with fiancee Alexa Turner, 23, from Cincinnati, Ohio, added: ‘Getting married in the US was going to be very difficult and Gibraltar seemed a great option. 

‘We’re getting married on Wednesday in the Registry Office and we’re staying in the Rock Hotel.

‘It was something we had already planned but the fact Gibraltar was put on the UK’s green list is a relief because you’re always a little bit concerned about what’s going to happen at the moment when you book a trip abroad.’

Alexa, who did five days’ quarantine after flying in from the States three weeks ago, added: ‘The flight was about 90 per cent full and there were quite a lot of tourists on it.

‘When we left Heathrow it was raining and cold and only about 12 degrees Celsius so we’re looking forward to feeling the sun on our faces.

‘We’re here till Thursday and we’re going to make the most of every minute.’

The first UK flight to Gibraltar since the May 7 announcement the overseas British territory was one of a handful of green list countries, touched down just 24 hours after the Rock’s government announced zero active resident and visitor Covid cases for the first time since July 21 last year.

All its adult population have been offered vaccines and thousands of Spanish workers who cross the busy border every day to work in Gibraltar, which has a population of just over 33,000, have also received both their jabs.

The last records released yesterday show the total number of vaccines administered were 74,461 – 38,905 first dose and 35,556 second dose.

A last-minute Gibraltar Government vaccination change in policy meant holidaymakers and Gibraltar residents on the first green list plane this morning discovered they still had to be tested for Covid despite saying they had been told before their trip no tests were needed.

Gibraltar’s Chief Minister Fabian Picardo boasted on Sky TV earlier this month British holidaymakers jetting to the Rock would not need PCR tests.

But he was due to announce this afternoon air arrivals from the UK would continue to have to undergo testing for Covid-19 upon arrival in Gibraltar because of concerns over the spread of the Indian variant of the virus in the UK.

Passengers on flight BA492 were today offered free – but mandatory – quick lateral flow tests after reaching the Rock unless they could provide negative PCR tests.

Nick Tree, a former BA airport manager from Stratford-upon-Avon in the West Midlands, said after arriving in Gibraltar: ‘I paid for a PCR test in the UK 10 minutes before the Gibraltar Government changed the technical notice and said no test was required.

‘I touched down to be told the policy had changed while we were in the air and I had to go to a Portakabin outside the terminal to be swabbed.

‘When I said I’d got a negative PCR test which is the most reliable type of test there is I was told to upload it online so local officials were aware.’

Another passenger on the flight added: ‘It was all a bit chaotic. We boarded the flight thinking we’d need nothing and arrived to find we had to be tested because of a last-minute change of policy.

‘The immigration officials were telling us to start with when we touched down they could only let us in if we booked a lateral flow test online but when we tried through the app we were told there would be a charge.

‘In the end we got through and had it done for free.’

Warwick Howard, from Fenny Drayton in Leicestershire, said: ‘We were caught a bit blindsided by the test requirement but I’m happy to comply.

‘It’s a simple test and very little hassle for something which at the end of the day helps to keep everyone safe.’