Tuesday, March 23, 2021
The 'Stanley Johnson loophole'
The government has announced new regulations to prevent people leaving the UK, but with a list of specific exemptions. As the Guardian reports, anyone who is caught breaking the rules on travel by going on holiday faces a fine of up to £5,000.
One exemption allows people to travel abroad “in connection with the purchase, sale, letting or rental of a residential property”. Those activities include visiting an estate agent, developer sales office or show home, viewing residential properties to rent or buy, and preparing a property for moving in.Other exemptions include study or competing in an elite sporting event.
Coincidentially, Boris Johnson’s father, Stanley, last summer apparently breached Covid guidelines by travelling to his Greek villa to make it “Covid-proof”. He will now be able to do that legally. It is hardly surprising that some MPs smell a rat:
Labour MP and former shadow cabinet minister Andrew Gwynne said: “For hardworking families facing the prospect of missing out on summer holidays, it will stick in the craw that the government has inserted a ‘Stanley Johnson clause’ to Covid rules that allows people to come and go if they have property abroad … It seems it’s still one rule for them and another for the rest of us.”
Another Labour source branded it the “Stanley Johnson loophole” for “those managing their overseas property empires”, and accused the government of being “only focused on their own privileged lives”.
The one good bit of news is that the government is exempting protests from the rules against mass gatherings, presumably this depends on how loud they are and whether the protest involves a statue or not.
One exemption allows people to travel abroad “in connection with the purchase, sale, letting or rental of a residential property”. Those activities include visiting an estate agent, developer sales office or show home, viewing residential properties to rent or buy, and preparing a property for moving in.Other exemptions include study or competing in an elite sporting event.
Coincidentially, Boris Johnson’s father, Stanley, last summer apparently breached Covid guidelines by travelling to his Greek villa to make it “Covid-proof”. He will now be able to do that legally. It is hardly surprising that some MPs smell a rat:
Labour MP and former shadow cabinet minister Andrew Gwynne said: “For hardworking families facing the prospect of missing out on summer holidays, it will stick in the craw that the government has inserted a ‘Stanley Johnson clause’ to Covid rules that allows people to come and go if they have property abroad … It seems it’s still one rule for them and another for the rest of us.”
Another Labour source branded it the “Stanley Johnson loophole” for “those managing their overseas property empires”, and accused the government of being “only focused on their own privileged lives”.
The one good bit of news is that the government is exempting protests from the rules against mass gatherings, presumably this depends on how loud they are and whether the protest involves a statue or not.
