Last year, the government maintained direct travel corridors with the likes of Spain’s Balearic and Canary Islands, and Portugal’s Azores and Madeira archipelagos, to allow quarantine-free leisure travel to these destinations to continue while travel to both the Spanish and Portuguese mainland incurred a self-isolation requirement upon return.
The government has since announced a formal traffic light regime to govern international travel, which will come into effect when international travel is permitted; 17 May remains the "at the very earliest" date for any such resumption.
It means, though, that if Spain is placed on the "red" or "amber" list when countries are assigned a traffic light status early next month, those travelling to the Balearics or Canaries will be required to self-isolate when they get home – even if the Covid situation on those islands is preferential to the mainland.
Lilian Greenwood, MP for Nottingham South, asked Courts – who appeared before the government’s transport committee on Wednesday (14 April) – if the government would treat islands differently under the traffic light framework outlined by the Global Travel Taskforce on Friday (9 April), citing the Canary Islands as an example of where such a policy could be beneficial.
Courts acknowledged that while the government did introduced an island policy last year, it would likely be discussed in the lead up to one of the three "checkpoints" factored into the taskforce’s recommendation, which fall on 28 June, 31 July and 1 October.
"We’ve had a policy throughout all of this that does have to evolve because we learn more about the virus and its behaviour as we go along," said Courts. "Last year, we had the islands policy. At the moment, we’ve laid out the framework, but we will continue to look – at those checkpoints – at the situation that exists in other countries as we see their vaccine roll-out, as we see their prevalence of the virus, as we see whether they have new variants of concern. We’ll keep considering all those things at all points."
Greenwood also asked Courts whether the government would treat all US states the same, but the minister didn’t offer any clarity on what approach the government would take the US.
"The US currently has a ban [on travel] for UK citizens coming in, it is worth dwelling on that," said Courts. "This is an international market, and not everything that affects what we do is controlled by this [UK] government."
