‘Been shocking elections’ Jonathan Ashworth hits out at Keir Starmer Labour failure

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The Shadow Health Secretary faced questions by ITV Good Morning Britain host Adil Ray over the Labour Party’s stance on foreign travel. But Mr Ray erupted at Jon Ashworth who discussed sick pay during the interview.

He said: “I would want us to spend a little bit of time reassuring ourselves that we’ve got on top of this particular variant and really contain it.

“What I would do to contain the variant, I would put in surge vaccination into those areas where we know the variant is spreading quickly – that means vaccinating everybody.

“I would pay people decent sick pay.”

Mr Ray intrjected: “That’s nothing to do with it.”

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Jon Ashworth hit out at Keir Starmer’s Labour Party failure (Image: ITV)

It comes amid confusion after a health minister appeared to contradict official advice over travel following the relaxing of restrictions by saying all international trips were “dangerous”.

People in England, Scotland and Wales are able to travel overseas on holiday to a limited number of destinations after restrictions were eased.

There are green, amber and red lists for international travel, but politicians have offered differing advice over where the public are permitted to travel abroad.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s official spokesman, during a briefing with reporters on Tuesday, said leisure travel should still be restricted to the limited number of countries deemed safe by ministers, such as Portugal, which feature on the quarantine-free “green list”.

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But two Cabinet ministers appeared to offer a different reading of the rules, with Environment Secretary George Eustice telling broadcasters people could go to amber-listed countries as long as they observed quarantine rules on their return.

Welsh Secretary Simon Hart, speaking after Mr Johnson’s comments on the matter, told Times Radio the public should ask themselves whether a trip to a country on the amber list was “essential” before conceding that “some people might think a holiday is essential”.

Further complicating matters, health minister Lord Bethell told peers he considered all foreign travel to be “dangerous” and urged Britons to holiday at home this summer.

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Keir Starmer timeline (Image: EXPRESS)

Mr Johnson could face pressure to clarify the confusion around international travel rules when he takes Prime Minister’s Questions for the first time since Parliament reopened last week.

Facing Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer in a six-question round for the first time since the local elections and the Queen’s Speech, the Prime Minister is likely to face questions on where it is safe to holiday after one of his ministers said all international trips were “dangerous”.

Would-be holidaymakers were left with their plans for a summer break up in the air after ministers appeared to contradict themselves over where the public are permitted to travel abroad.

With a new traffic light system brought in on Monday to allow some foreign travel to resume again after months of coronavirus lockdown, the Prime Minister stressed countries on the so-called “amber list” were “not somewhere where you should be going on holiday”.