Passenger Locator Form to be ‘gone by Easter’

The passenger locator form for international arrivals to the UK could be removed by Easter according to an influential Conservative MP.

Huw Merriman, chair of the Transport Select Committee of MPs, is pretty confident that the passenger locator form will be dropped by Easter.

Merriman said that the PLF was the key thing that they wanted to move on. The Department for Transport doesn't see the point of it.

He said that we don't need all these questions domestically. Why do we have so many questions for international travel?

The Department of Health is opposed to removing the PLF, he said, suggesting the department remains sore at the removal of Covid-19 testing requirements for fully vaccine arrivals from February.

Merriman argued that we need to get back to where we were. I think we will get there by Easter. I want to get it to that point.

The PLF is complicated but the means by which fully vaccined and unvaccinated arrivals are identified is.

Merriman was not sure if the need for the PLF was related to the removal of testing requirements for unvaccinated travellers.

He said he was trying to find ways to live with Covid and suggested that countries with 75% of their population fully vaccination could be removed from the requirement to fill out the PLF. Let the US go immediately.

Merriman argued that any future Covid requirements needed to take into account the wider impacts on the economy.

He admitted: "We were a bit slow to recognize the importance of your sector."

Merriman doesn't think we have a joined up transport strategy. Look at the impact of devolution on Covid policies.

We have come a long way on our lobbying and we are not giving up. There was a lack of knowledge in government two years ago.

You have to go through all the departments and they are not talking to each other.

We have a huge job to do. We have certainly come a long way. The needle has been empty for about a quarter of a tank.

The aviation minister has promised me that he will mention business travel when he is interviewed.

At the Global Business Travel Association conference in Berlin, all of the business travel associations were in a room discussing how they act together on lobbying governments.