While the move announced by health secretary Sajid Javid on Saturday evening (4 December) was clearly led by the Department of Health, it was transport secretary Shapps who faced much of the flak.
The backlash followed comments made by Shapps during the latest edition of The Telegraph’s Chopper’s Politics podcast, which aired on Friday (3 December) – just a day before the return of pre-departure testing was announced.
Speaking to The Telegraph’s Christopher Hope, Shapps said he hoped not to see a return of pre-departure testing. “Do you want to kill off the travel sector again without knowing that you need to?" he said. "Or do you want to take the right level of calibrated response?"
This "calibrated" response to the emergence of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 initially involved the addition of 10 southern African countries to the red list and the return of Day 2 testing.
Shapps continued: "This government thinks we should take a calibrated response, which doesn’t take us right back to the beginning of this [pandemic]. I believe in transport and I don’t want to see a world where we’re always finding excuses to restrict it. Of course you’ve got to respond responsibly. That’s what I think we’ve done."
The day after his comments emerged, the government – without warning – announced a return of pre-departure testing. The new rules will come into effect from 4am on Tuesday (7 December).
On Saturday evening, Hope tweeted: "It shows how fast moving the situation is. Grant Shapps told me last Wednesday that this was not the plan."
To which Shapps responded: "Worth noting my pre-recorded comments about pre-departure tests were made earlier in the week and the situation moved on."
The move left agents and tour operators scrambling to address clients’ concerns with the new rules due to come into effect during the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Shortly after Sajid Javid set out the proposal, Shapps added he appreciated the problems the return of pre-departure testing would cause travel.
"As the scientists work to understand new Omicron variant we need to apply additional caution until picture is clearer," he said. "We appreciate this will be difficult for the travel sector as we prioritise public health and protect the progress of our world-leading vaccination and booster programme."
