The UK government is about to impose a ban on anyone leaving the UK from next week, March 29, 2021.
‘The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Steps) (England) Regulations 2021’ will be debated on Thursday but is certain to pass into law.
The new legislation follows the previously announced ‘steps’ out of lockdown, but sees a new date of June 30,2021 as being the earliest that international travel will be permitted, without reasonable excuse.
Yes. You can go abroad to see an estate agent about buying/renting a property but can’t go abroad to reunite with your partner/wife/husband (unless they are dying).
See Schedule 5 https://t.co/5z1cmcCe8F https://t.co/3tXmjiLp4o pic.twitter.com/tiGwCw6PPl
— Adam Wagner (@AdamWagner1) March 23, 2021
In the legislation, those reasons for allowable travel are listed in Schedule 5 of the proposal (page 70) and include needing to travel for work, if they are moving, selling or renting property, or for urgent personal reasons. The travel ban does not apply to those going to the common travel area of the Channel Islands, Isle of Man and the Republic of Ireland unless that is not the final destination.
The government’s Global Travel Taskforce is due to report on April 12, 2021 and is expected to introduce a ‘traffic light system’, with some countries on a red list, while others are on amber or green.
The government had already said that international travel will resume “no earlier than 17 May” and that any decision “will need to consider:
- the global and domestic epidemiological picture
- the prevalence and location of any variants of concern
- the progress of vaccine rollouts here and abroad
- what more we’ve learnt about the efficacy of vaccines on variants, and their impact on transmission, hospitalisation and deaths.”
The new regulations led to a widespread cancelling of flights by British Airways, Easyjet and Ryanair as well as a further drop in the share prices of those airlines.
