The Telegraph reports the idea is among a number of measures minister will debate, including a full "Australian-style border closure".

It comes after prime minister Boris Johnson on Friday (22 January) said he could not rule out the government taking further action at the UK’s borders, despite requiring all those travelling to the UK to test negative for Covid before they depart and to quarantine for 10 days too.

All of the UK’s quarantine-free travel corridors have also been suspended. "We may need to go further to protect our borders," said Johnson.

Speaking to Times Radio at the weekend, health secretary Matt Hancock said it was "critical" the UK guarded against the import of new Covid variants, which may evade the vaccines so far deployed in the UK.

Professor Kamlesh Khunti, a member of the government’s scientific advisory group for emergencies (Sage), told LBC the stricter measures "made complete sense".

The Times, meanwhile, reports government officials are confident of finding sufficient room capacity to make the hotel quarantine proposals work.

Labour has backed tougher measures to protect the UK’s borders, with shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds leading opposition calls for a "truly effective system of testing and quarantining".

"Nobody could say the situation at our borders is satisfactory, or that there is sufficient protection in place for our people against the different strains that could be coming from around the world," he said.

"So we need to put additional protections in place, we do need that effective border testing regime, and we also need an effective quarantining regime, which we’ve not had."