Cross-party group of 70 MPs warn against ‘divisive and discriminatory’ domestic vaccine passports

A cross-party group of over 70 MPs have launched a campaign against domestic vaccine passports, branding them “divisive and discriminatory”.

Politicians including Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey and Tory 1922 committee chair Graham Brady said the certificates should not be used to “deny individuals access to general services, businesses or jobs”.

The launch of the campaign comes just days before Michael Gove is expected to announce the results of the government’s review into whether such documents should become a reality.

Proponents say internal vaccine passports could help open up the economy while reducing the risk of contagion, but critics say they would not be fair and could risk discrimination.

The idea of using the documents to allow people access to events, pubs, and services sits alongside proposals to use them to regulate international travel.

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Baroness Chakrabarti, a Labour peer, said: “International travel is a luxury but participating in your own community is a fundamental right.

“So internal Covid passports are an authoritarian step too far. We don’t defeat the virus with discrimination and oppression but with education, vaccination and mutual support.”

Other signatories of a statement against the policy include Labour’s Dawn Butler, Rebecca Long Bailey and Jeremy Corbyn; Lib Dems Layla Moran, Tim Farron, and Alistair Carmichael; and Tories Iain Duncan Smith, Peter Bone, and Steve Baker.

It was also backed by groups including Liberty, Migrants Organise, the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, medConfidential, and Privacy International.

“We oppose the divisive and discriminatory use of Covid status certification to deny individuals access to general services, businesses or jobs,” the MPs said in a joint statement, which was coordinated by the campaign group Big Brother Watch.

In addition to the MPs, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said this the proposed documents would go against the “British instinct” if the virus had been brought under control by other means.

Boris Johnson has said it could be “up to individual publicans” to decide whether they wanted to enforce such restrictions, and Cabinet Office minister Mr Gove is set to make recommendations on Monday.

The prime minister on Thursday said the certificates would “definitely” feature in international travel to “give maximum confidence to businesses and customers in the UK”.