MPs to get vote on vaccine passports – and could defeat Government

MPs will be given a vote on plans for vaccine passports before they are introduced, risking a Government defeat in the Commons, The Telegraph has learnt.

Michael Gove, who is leading an official review of the scheme, has privately promised MPs critical of vaccine checks that they will be given a chance to vote them down.

More than 70 MPs, including 41 Conservatives, have signed an open letter to Boris Johnson opposing the use of vaccine passports. If more than around 60 Tory MPs rebel and all opposition parties refuse to support the passports, Mr Johnson could be defeated in the Commons and the scheme abandoned.

Mr Gove held a phone call with a group of MPs about the measures last week after dozens went public with their concerns. One told The Telegraph: "Michael made a very clear statement on the call with MPs that there would be debates and votes before anything like this came into force."

The Government is currently conducting a review into a passport scheme and has not yet finalised any plans.

In an article for The Telegraph on Monday, Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee, warned that vaccine passports would be "intrusive, costly and unnecessary" when the UK is already in an "enviable position where more than half the population has got antibodies".

Tory rebels will need the support of the opposition parties if they hope to win the vote and cancel the scheme.

On Sunday night, a source indicated that the shadow cabinet has not yet decided whether Labour MPs would be whipped to vote against the motion, but Sir Keir Starmer has said he would regard a passport scheme as un-British.

Clive Lewis, a Labour backbencher who opposes the passport plans, said many Labour MPs would join the rebels when the vote takes place.

"I imagine there is a calculation [in Labour HQ] that this is something for which there isn't support across the party," he said. "It would also be an opportunity, if there is a large number of Tory rebels, to inflict a possible defeat on the Government which, especially with an 80 seat majority, is a rare opportunity."

A vote in the Commons could see an unlikely alliance between libertarian Tory MPs and the Socialist Campaign Group, a caucus of MPs on the left of the Labour Party. Both have been critical of any vaccine checks in the UK other than for international travel.

David Davis, the former Brexit secretary, on Sunday said the plans were "nonsense" and amounted to "giving up our basic freedoms". Sir Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, said a passport scheme would be "illiberal, unworkable and utterly ineffective".

Writing for The Telegraph, Mr Gove acknowledged that there were "a host of practical and ethical questions we have to answer before we can consider a wider rollout".

Although the plans are controversial, he said they may "allow us to relax social distancing rules more quickly", boosting the capacity of venues and funnelling money into the hospitality industry.