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  6.  » COVID-19: Boris Johnson says pub landlords could bar punters without vaccine certificates

Jon Craig – Sky News March 24, 2021

For a prime minister who likes to give little away when he appears before the Liaison Committee, Boris Johnson dropped a number of news bombs.

The biggest bombshell was that pub landlords may be given the power to bar anyone without a COVID jab in future, in a massive blow to the nations under-40s who will not get their vaccines until later in the year.

Asked about vaccine certificates for pubs, he said: “I think that’s the kind of thing that may be up to individual publicans. It may be up to the landlord.”

Bearing in mind that this shock announcement came just hours before MPs vote again on lockdown restrictions, it was enough to make a pub punter spill their beer.

Michael Gove is already leading a Whitehall review on whether the government should introduce “vaccine certification”, as the prime minister calls the plan.

The pub trade is not happy with what the PM said, however. Greg Mullholland, who used to be a Lib Dem MP and now runs the British Pub Confederation, says pubs are being asked to make a moral judgement.

But besides the nation – or some of us! – going back to the pub, there was a potentially devastating announcement about summer holidays and when they can go ahead.

First, under pressure from the terrier-like Yvette Cooper, who snapped at him with real menace at times, he signalled that France could soon be added to the so-called red list of countries.

That could be potentially catastrophic for thousands of truckers forced to sit in quarantine and lead to all sorts of hold-ups at the ports. For exporters of fresh and frozen foods, it sounds like a recipe for chaos.

“Putting France on the red list is something we will have to look at,” the Prime Minister told Ms Cooper, though he went on to talk about the potential damage to trade.

Restrictions on hauliers would have a big impact, he admitted, because of the extent to which the UK is reliant on imports.

But, if necessary, he will take a decision “no matter how tough” it has to be and this may have to happen “very soon”, he said.

Continues …