The government did not balance concerns for the impact on the economy with its focus on public health during the Covid-19 pandemic, the transport secretary told industry leaders yesterday.
Mark Harper, who took over as transport secretary in October after chairing the Covid Recovery Group of MPs during the Covid crisis, told the Airport Operators Association (AOA) conference in London: “I chaired and led a group of MPs who wanted a balanced approach to Covid.”
He said the government “had a duty to protect public health but also a duty to support business”.
Harper argued: “We put something like £8 billion into aviation and we moved further and faster than any other country to lift restrictions when it was safe to do so.”
But he added: “What we learned was the necessity to balance the advice of the chief scientific officer and chief medical officer.
“What the government could have done better is also to listen to concerns about the impact on the economy. Ministers should have balanced those concerns.”
Harper insisted: “Those lessons have been learned. I hope they mean we would have a more balanced response if anything like that happened again. We could keep the economy functioning.”
However, asked whether the government has a plan to deal with a resurgence of Covid due to a variant of concern, Harper said only: “What Covid taught us was you don’t always know what is in front of you.”
Asked the same question later, Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye told the conference: “I don’t think there is a plan in place.”
Harper noted the first meeting of the Aviation Industry Council under the new government would take place today (February 1) and said: “The government wants to work with the industry. We want to ensure people can continue flying while meeting the decarbonisation challenge of aviation.”
Responding to the announcement by the head of Border Force that trials of the use of e-gates for 10 and 11-year-olds are underway at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted and could be in general use by the summer, Harper said: “That will be a decision for the home secretary.
“We have to be comfortable the technology is working for those age cohorts. The home secretary has the responsibility to protect our border.”