Manchester Airport boss slams Government's traffic light system as 'scapegoating' travel industry

  • Travel expert Simon Calder gives his reaction to the government's traffic light approach

The boss of Manchester Airport has criticised the governments traffic light approach for travel, saying it has become clear that "the Government doesn’t trust its own system."

It comes as the Transport Secretary confirmed that Portugal will be moving to the amber list and no new destinations will be added to England's green travel list.

This means anyone travelling back from Portugal to the UK - from 4am on Tuesday June 8 - would have to spend 10 days in quarantine and ensure they can pay for two PCR tests.

Cases of the Delta+K417N has been seen in Portugal. Credit: PA

Charlie Cornish, who is the CEO at Manchester Airport, said he believes "international travel is being unfairly scapegoated, with tens of thousands of jobs placed at risk in the process."

“Low-risk destinations continue to be left off the green list despite clear evidence they are safe to visit. With case rates lower than the UK, we simply cannot understand why the likes of the Balearics, the Canaries and some Greek islands do not fall into that category.

“The lack of transparency is shocking and totally unacceptable. If the Government has information that supports its decisions, then it needs to publish it. We have repeatedly asked for this data, but we are being left in the dark about how it is making these choices, with no opportunity for scrutiny or challenge."

  • Good Morning Britain's Jonathan Swain reports on the travel chaos