The chairman of CAMRA said pub owners in Gedling borough would today be ‘breathing a sigh of relief’ after plans for vaccine passports were ‘shelved’ by the government.
The chairman’s comments were issued after MailOnline reported that Boris Johnson has scrapped plans to introduce Covid passports in pubs and restaurants this summer.
The change comes following an angry backlash from Tory MPs and parts of the hospitality industry about the idea of forcing people to produce ‘papers for the pub’.
The report said officials have been ordered to concentrate instead on devising a system that will enable foreign travel and the reopening of sectors like theatres, sports venues and nightclubs.
Responding to the news Nik Antona, CAMRA chairman said: “This was the right call to make – a vaccine passport scheme would have been another nightmare set of rules for licensees to enforce and potentially exclusionary to some consumers.
“The social and wellbeing benefits of pub going should be available to everyone, and the Government still has not provided any evidence that hospitality businesses have been a major vector for virus transmissions – so we saw no reason why the sector should be singled out for more unfair treatment.
“Licensees in Gedling borough will be breathing a sigh of relief today – especially as many are still getting to grips with new rules on registering all customers in groups for Test and Trace, and planning for indoor reopening in May.
“The Government must now stick to its reopening roadmap, and double down on efforts to encourage to people socialise safely in pubs and social clubs by introducing a new, lower, rate of duty for draught beer, and extending the business rates holiday.”
