By Foreign holidays will be illegal from next week under new coronavirus laws which could last until the end of June.
Brits trying to travel abroad without a reasonable excuse could be fined up to £5,000 under the legislation, which will come into force on Monday if approved by MPs.
The news was a disappointment to millions of people hoping for a summer holiday and sent travel stocks, including easyJet, British Airway-owner, Jet2 and TUI down 2-4% in early trade on Tuesday.
The United Kingdom has had one of the worst COVID-19 tolls in the world, but deaths and infections are falling fast and a successful vaccination campaign is finally breathing confidence back into the population and the economy.
However, recent news of cases rising across Europe, could jeopardise the UK’s roadmap out of lockdown and makes foreign holidays “extremely unlikely”, experts have recently warned.
Ian Langsdon/EPA
English seeking sunshine abroad face hefty new fines from Monday.
“We are seeing this third wave rising in some parts of Europe and we’re also seeing new variants and it is very important that we protect the progress that we’ve been able to make here in the UK,” health minister Matt Hancock told Sky News.
New coronavirus rules will be coming into force next week which include a ban on anyone leaving the UK without a “reasonable excuse”.
The document reads: “The Regulations also impose restrictions on leaving the United Kingdom without a reasonable excuse (regulation 8).”
According to the new law, no one can “leave England to travel to a destination outside the United Kingdom, or travel to, or be present at, an embarkation point for the purpose of travelling from there to a destination outside the United Kingdom” without a reasonable excuse.
Currently, Britons who are looking to travel abroad – with a reasonable excuse – must fill in a travel declaration form.
