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Talking Point: Should we be opening our borders to the US, EU and beyond?

 (REUTERS)
(REUTERS)

Following the news that UK borders will soon open to double-vaccinated US and EU travellers, Dominic Raab has now signalled that more countries might be added to the list.

Raab said the “whole tide, whether its domestic restrictions, international, is going in the right direction of opening up”.

“Personally, it feels like the momentum forward is positive because the double vaccination reaching 70 per cent of the adult population in this country.

We have done the job we had to do domestically, and as we see other countries catch up, if you like, I think we are increasingly confident that more countries will go either on amber or onto green.”

Some experts, however, have warned of the danger of opening up borders without quarantine, stressing that travellers could still bring variants into the country and threaten the current fall in cases.

What are your thoughts on the decision? Will you welcome easier travel, or do you think the strategy is too risky? Let us know in the comments for your chance to be featured on the ES website.

Yesterday’s Talking Point: What do you think of keeping the £15-a-day London congestion charge?

All comments on yesterday’s Talking Point were opposed to the extended congestion charge.

“StudJ” said: “The increase was not widely publicised to casual visitors and after paying £80 fine for a previous free transit route through London on a weekend, I will NEVER again come into central London and thereby support any economic activity, shops, restaurants and business. This is a tax on London. Short sighted.”

“LondonBoy,” meanwhile, added: “This news is sickening. Propping up TFL’s finances at the expense of motorists is downright criminal. You might not know, but also part of these ‘emergency’ measures put in place, means resident discounts are no longer permitted. I live in central London and have been unable to drive anywhere for over a year. I barely visit my family, because everytime I do, it costs me £15, no matter what day of the week it is. At the very minimum, these extended hours at weekends and on bank holidays must be scrapped.”

And “Whatsupp” said: “TFL makes the consultation exercise too difficult for many Londoners to have their say. Another option to raise funds would be to register and licence all cyclists and charge them to use their bikes in the congestion zone, after all their is not much left he can pilfer from motorists.”

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