Calls for home secretary to quit if government loses quarantine case

Home secretary Priti Patel has been urged to resign if she loses a court case over the government's "devastating" quarantine rules.

The Quash Quarantine collective of travel companies and hospitality businesses has written to her warning that 1.7 million jobs in the industry are being put at risk by a policy which they warn renders economic recovery "impossible."

Hundreds of businesses in the UK travel and hospitality sector said they have lost confidence in Patel, as "the architect of a policy that prevents any form of sector recovery."

The move follows the filing of a High Court legal action on Friday by British Airways' parent company IAG, Ryanair and EasyJet to block the policy.

Patel has maintained quarantine is necessary to prevent a second wave of coronavirus.

The group's letter to the home secretary said: "As home secretary you seem oblivious to the pain that employees are going through and, more worryingly, the Home Office appears to have no understanding of the commercial realities of running a business through this pandemic… many in the leadership of the travel and hospitality sector have lost confidence in you as home secretary. We desperately need support from the government but instead we see obstacles to recovery.

"I'm sure you'll agree that the honourable thing to do, if the quarantine measures are found to be unlawful, will be to resign.

"In conclusion… quarantine, combined with the now unnecessary and ill-advised FCO blanket travel advice, is economically devastating and destroying the livelihoods of so many.

"Quite simply, we need both to be withdrawn before it is too late. While the rest of Europe gets going again, the idea of a Global Britain is fast becoming a national embarrassment."

By Phil Davies for Travel Weekly

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