In June 2005 we moved to the Southern Costa Blanca of Spain, a region the World Health Organisation declared as one of the most healthy climates in the world, writes Bremain Council member Mike Phillips for Kent Bylines. My wife Anne, as a pensioner, was able to register with the Spanish Health Service. She obtained her national identity SIP health card that confirmed her right to health benefits in Spain.

Although I had four years until my pension, I applied for an E106 health application from the UK Pension Service. I was then able to “jump on my wife’s back” to apply for my SIP card. There was a reciprocal agreement with Spain that the UK would refund Spain annually according to the number of UK residents in Spain registered for health care. UK pensioners who are resident in Spain benefit from this agreement.

Our local access to Spanish Healthcare

In 2002 the Spanish National Healthcare System had been decentralised to the 17 regional Comunidades of Spain,. This gave them autonomy to develop the healthcare information technology infrastructure needed to improve its access to the population, whether living in urban or rural areas.

We had a small clinic with one doctor in our village plus a private doctor, a private dentist and two pharmacies. In our local, administrative town there is a larger Centro Salud (Clinic) with emergency services and a wider choice of doctors and dentists. In Torrevieja, 30 minutes’ drive away, there is an established private hospital and a newly constructed Universitario Hospital that opened in October 2006.
Because of her partial mastectomy my wife suffered from lymphedema of the left arm. We sought advice from our local doctor that we were doing all we could to manage the problem. He made an appointment for us with an Oncologist at the new hospital. This is when we started to discover that, when the Spanish National Health Service has recognised a problem, it follows it through to a final cure

Our early, personal experience

The first step was a 3D scan of Anne’s left arm to create a personally fitted lymphedema sleeve. Also, a course of lymphatic drainage, plus further tests to determine whether any metastasis of the cancer had occurred. It had. They found numerous small nodules in her neck. This led to a series of regular scans and a change of hormone therapy. If the new hospital didn’t have the appropriate CAT or MRI scanners at this stage, they referred her to a specialist hospital in the city of Elche.

Test results were available rapidly to the Oncologist and personal doctor via internet technology. We were also able to log on to our own health portal website to request and check appointments. We could post questions to our doctor and read our medical reports. Prescription charges vary slightly from region to region but in Comunidad Valenciana have been free. Except for one brief period when you could claim back the 10% charge.

Private Health Care

Anne also developed bursitis, tendonitis and frozen shoulder in her right shoulder at this time. I couldn’t bear the agony and constant pain she had, so we visited Pastora, our private doctor who treated the whole person and not just the ailment. Within days she arranged an operation in a private hospital in Murcia, outside our administrative health region.

Within 24 hours the pain was gone. I could even have stayed with her in her room overnight. As I hadn’t been wise enough to take out private medical insurance when moving to Spain it cost me €4,000: a small price to pay to see the smile back on Anne’s face.

Further National Health experience in Spain

Now it was my time. In 2018 a routine blood test gave a high prostate level. A series of scans and a biopsy followed that confirmed cancer, but only in the prostate gland. They referred me to the private hospital for a series of 40 radiation treatments, mainly in the early hours of the morning. They had the latest technology that allowed the beam and dose to be accurately focussed and controlled. It was used fully and they did not charge me for it as the National Health hospital had referred me.

After five sessions a week for two months my prostate level had dropped from 39 to 0.02. They then gave me six monthly injections and a daily pill for 18 months to prevent the cancer returning. I wrote to my Oncologist thanking him and all his staff for their dedication. Foremost for the high-quality standards and pursuit of world beating medical technology that Hospital Quiron demands.

My wife’s emergency

In late September 2019 she developed severe stomach pains and could hardly speak. I dialled 112 for an ambulance and she was kept in hospital overnight for observation. The following morning she had an emergency operation for peritonitis (a one inch split in her stomach) and was put into a coma.

I contacted our twin daughters in Australia who booked the first flights possible and alerted the other children in England. The twins arrived just as Anne came out of the coma. When she was ready to be transferred to a normal ward it was to a private room. That meant that I and our girls also could moved in. It is part of Spanish culture that a family participates in aftercare and they make provision for it.

This cured the peritonitis but she was very weak and needed assistance with breathing via an intelligent ventilator she did not like. When we thought she was stable I sent the girls home to be with their young children for a long planned family holiday. But it was not to be. Less than two weeks later they were on another flight from Queensland to Spain.

Reflections on Spanish Healthcare and the NHS

It is sad to watch the UK NHS being undervalued and underfunded. The only apparent, future strategy seems to be to slowly sell off major elements to offshore businesses. By comparison, I only have praise for the Spanish Healthcare system.

If I have any criticism it is that, sometimes, there is a communication gap between doctors and nurses. This is mainly due to the legal responsibility of doctors for the care of their patients. Some nurses may be reluctant to take action without the sanction of a doctor. On the other hand, I’ve seen even student nurses visit a patient, not because it is time to do so but because he/she wanted to.

In March 2020 Spain had 3.9 doctors per 1,000 population, UK had 2.9. About a third of the 300,000 doctors in the UK come from other nations, of which just under a third are Indian and Filipino. Is this sustainable under the current immigration policy? The World Economic Forum and Bloomberg consider the Spanish Healthcare system the 7th best in the world. It is the most efficient in Europe and amongst the top worldwide with Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore.

If you’re thinking of moving to Spain, concern over healthcare should not prevent you. Just do your homework as in everything. Read for example an article written for local Spanish media by Sue Wilson MBE, Chair of Bremain in Spain prior to the last UK election.

Links for further information

Guidance from the UK government

An update from British Embassy, Madrid on health care post Brexit

Latest updates from British Embassy, Madrid on the Bremain in Spain website

Last weekend saw my home region of Spain – the Valencian Community – brace for the first real ola de calor of the 2021 season, writes Bremain Chair Sue Wilson for Yorkshire Bylines. Warm air from the Sahara brought temperatures of over 40 degrees Celsius, with the threat of forest fires raised to ‘extreme’. The heatwave was also responsible for rising humidity levels on the coast, affecting atmospheric conditions and damaging air quality.

The threat of wild fires ravaging the countryside is a very real one, and not just in Spain. Recent fires around the world, such as in Greece, America and Australia, have highlighted the urgency of climate change action, and the dangers of inaction.

July saw extreme weather conditions across the globe, including unprecedented levels of flooding and landslides. On 11 August, Syracuse in Italy recorded the highest temperature ever experienced in Europe – 48.8 degrees C. This was beaten only by the highest temperature ever recorded on the planet – 54.4 degrees C (130 degrees F) – in Death Valley, USA in July (source National Centers for Environmental Information).

COP26 climate change conference just 10 weeks away

In ten weeks’ time – from 31 October to 12 November – the UK will host the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow. A glossy brochure, entitled ‘COP26 explained’, starts with a quote from Prime Minister Boris Johnson:

The brochure describes climate change as “the greatest risk facing us all”. Many would agree. They may, however, disagree with the claim that “the UK has a lot to be proud of when it comes to acting on climate change”.

COP climate goals

The stated goals of COP are to:

• Secure global net zero and keep 1.5 degrees within reach
• Adapt to protect communities and natural habitats
• Mobilise finance
• Work together and deliver

COP president, Alok Sharma, says that the UK is “leading the way” on climate action. He told the Observer the world is “dangerously close” to running out of time adding, “we can’t afford to wait two years, five years, 10 years – this is the moment”.

However, Sharma has recently been criticised for travelling by plane to over 30 countries in the last seven months. The aim of the visits was to discuss climate change commitments with world dignitaries, but to do by plane when he is supposed to be leading on environment policy was labelled ‘hypocritical’ by many. And to do so in the midst of a pandemic, and then choose not to quarantine on his return, only added insult to injury.

Despite warning that the consequences of failure would be “catastrophic”, Sharma insisted that the UK would persevere with its plans to license new oil and gas fields.

Greta Thunberg not impressed

Following the publication of a recent “dire” report by a US science panel, environmental campaigner, Greta Thunberg announced her intention to attend COP26. She said she hoped the report would be “a wake-up call”. It would take massive pressure from both the public and the media, she said, for appropriate action to be taken.

Thunberg has long been critical of the inactions of governments around the world to tackle the growing climate crisis. Previous scientific warnings have seemingly been ignored, and actions have failed to live up to the hype.

In an interview with @Reuters, climate activist @GretaThunberg called for action to fight climate change after a dire report on global warming was released by the U.N. science panel https://t.co/jJipEZK8xd pic.twitter.com/lI6oRSbcA2

— Reuters (@Reuters) August 9, 2021

The environment bandwagon

I don’t doubt that many government ministers around the globe are genuinely concerned about the climate crisis we face. But, I suspect there are many more that have jumped on the environment bandwagon simply because they can no longer avoid it, or think it’s a vote-winner with the young.

As for our own government, it seems a regular occurrence for them to be hot on the rhetoric, but cold on the follow through. Whether on Brexit, covid, or climate change, our political representatives are all mouth and no trousers.

We are increasingly used to seeing them follow a different set of rules to the rest of us, and to putting their own interests ahead of the needs of the country, or the planet. How can we have any confidence that they will take the necessary tough steps to reverse, or even slow down, the damage that we are inflicting on the world?

In five weeks’ time, I will celebrate being 68 years old, or young, depending on your outlook, and probably your own age. Brexit and covid aside, I am the happiest, most contented I have ever been in my life, and probably the fittest and most active too, writes Bremain Chair Sue Wilson MBE for Yorkshire Bylines.

Do I enjoy the pastimes expected of your average 67 year old? Probably not, but then who gets to decide what anyone of any age should be doing, wearing or saying?

Age has always been relative. My 90-year-old mother does not regard herself as old. She has an active brain; old people are those with more years on the clock, and less faculties, than she has. This has been the case, in her mind, for the last 40 years. But to me, she is elderly, as she’s the oldest member of our family, and older than me. Similarly, those under 30 would, I’m sure, regard me as old, but they’d probably say the same of those ten years younger than me too.

Plan to deny care to the elderly

So, when I read the report last week in The Telegraph, saying that the government had made plans for people in their seventies to have treatment withdrawn in favour of “end of life pathways” in certain circumstances, I was rather taken aback. How could my government – and let’s be clear, this was a government discussion, far more than an NHS one – consider treating me and my peers differently based solely on when I was born?

Although the response from Number 10 was that this proposal “never represented agreed government policy”, it rather begs the question – how close did it come to being policy?

The documents in question relate to government planning for a flu-like pandemic under Exercise Cygnus. According to Dr Moosa Qureshi, who obtained them, these plans were a surprise to medics who were kept in the dark. Dr Qureshi has long campaigned for ‘pandemic transparency’, having recently succeeded, after a lengthy legal battle, in securing the release of government documents.

Two documents relating to the Government's planning for a flu-like pandemic under Exercise Cygnus have finally been disclosed following a long-fought legal challenge by @DrMQureshi who is represented by Tessa Gregory and Carolin Otthttps://t.co/4re1jSgneT pic.twitter.com/FyGo90F5ik

— Leigh Day (@LeighDay_Law) July 31, 2021

A “scandal of monumental proportions”

The plans referred to in article, suggesting elderly care home residents should be refused hospital care, were created in 2017/2018. They were discussed as proposals for action – or rather lack of it – in the event of a pandemic.

How this played out in practice, with the horror stories from 2020 of elderly hospital patients being sent to care homes without covid testing and without treatment, is still fresh in our memories. Between March and June of 2020, a staggering 28,186 ‘excess deaths’ were recorded in care homes in England alone.

Amnesty International described government decisions, which put tens of thousands of older people’s lives at risk, as “shockingly irresponsible” and a “scandal of monumental proportions”. Amid government failures during the pandemic, older people in care homes had been “abandoned to die”, while 400,000 other care home residents – many extremely vulnerable – had been put at greater risk

Triple lock on pensions under threat

The elderly have always been an easy target, and perhaps a popular one, for any government wishing to save money. Even now, a row is brewing in government over the triple-lock on pensions.

The triple-lock guarantees the state pension will increase each year in line with:

a) the cost of living, as measured by the Consumer Price Index

b) increasing average wages, or

c) 2.5 percent – whichever is the highest.

Average earnings are expected to be the highest of the three options by some considerable margin, perhaps as high as 8 percent.

Maintaining the triple lock is a government manifesto promise, but Chancellor Sunak has hinted at its suspension, despite government ministers warning of potential damage to the party. Good to know they are thinking of themselves, rather than the pensioners that would suffer as a result of any cut.

Has the government even looked at the international pension figures lately? The UK is certainly not world beating on the pension front, with one of the lowest rates in Europe

It’s not called National Insurance for nothing

I get that the young have it tough, whether as a result of years of austerity, Brexit, covid or government policy in general. I get that they might believe that anyone of a certain age has had the best years of their life and that the young shouldn’t have to carry the financial burden.

But there are two sides to this. Pensioners are not all wealthy. Those – like myself – living solely on a state pension are living on low incomes, having worked hard for decades to pay for that income. Or at least, that’s what we were led to believe all our working lives.

I always regarded paying my taxes, and especially paying National Insurance contributions, as my paying my dues and funding my future protection. It’s not called National Insurance for nothing, and as with any ‘insurance’ policy, I expect it to come good when it’s needed.

Who gets to decide when my life is considered no longer worth protecting or, indeed, saving? Where do you draw the line? No more care once you’re over 70? 80? 90? What about the disabled, or the mentally ill? There would be uproar (or at least I hope there would be), should the UK government decide that certain people with certain long-term illnesses should have their care removed.

The withdrawal of anyone’s care, for whatever reason, should be entirely the choice of the individual, their families and the medical professionals directly responsible for their treatment. It should not be the responsibility of governments to decide who is too old or too sick to get the care they need or deserve.

Age should not define us

Treating the elderly differently, solely based on their age is the thin end of the wedge. What next? Deny treatment to the overweight, those with unhealthy lifestyles, the drinkers, the smokers?

I might be old enough to be your mum, or your gran, but my age doesn’t define me, or the life that I lead. Whether I choose to take part in activities that would be considered inappropriate for my age is nobody’s business but my own.

Age is so much more than a number. It’s about knowledge, experience, maturity, wisdom and caring less what others think. None of that may matter to the government, but they should think twice before upsetting a growing sector of the population that have largely supported them in the past.

This country has seen enough division over the last five years to last a lifetime. Let’s not add age to the list of topics that divide us.

Thursday last week, the UK government made the long-awaited travel rules announcement: from 4am on 2 August, European citizens who were fully vaccinated would no longer have to isolate for ten days if travelling to the UK from amber list countries, with certain requirements of course, writes Bremain Vice Chair Lisa Ryan Burton.

This news was particularly celebrated by British nationals living in Europe who are desperate to see family. However, true to form and within a few hours, it was then announced that there would now be an amber+ list, and that Spain may be placed on that list. Several hours later, more news emerged that in fact France was to be placed on the amber+ list and not Spain.

Travel rules mixed messaging

Here we go again. As a resident in Spain myself, I have not seen two of my children for 18 months, the other for 11 months, and this is not uncommon. Plans have had to change multiple times and this utter confusion and mixed messaging is now becoming infuriating. I reached out to fellow Brits in Spain for their thoughts on the latest news and the difficulties they face. Feelings are certainly running high. People are hurt, disillusioned, and desperate to see loved ones.

Hilary Walker told me:

For some time now, EU countries have been recognising NHS vaccine documents and allowing double-vaccinated British tourists to come into Europe. When they arrive back in the UK, there is only a test on day two and no isolation required.

Different travel rules for British nationals in the EU

For British nationals living in the EU however, it has been a very different story. The British government have for some reason been unable to reciprocate these arrangements to EU citizens and therefore even if they’re fully vaccinated, they would be required to isolate if travelling to the UK. This has been a source of anger, anxiety, and deep concern to British nationals living in Europe.

CA (who wished to remain anonymous) said:

The impact of isolation

One of the pandemic’s main trials for humanity was isolation, particularly from family. Everyone felt the effects to some degree but for those who are separated from family because they happen to live in another country, it has been even more challenging. Many British living in Europe haven’t seen their families since the beginning of the pandemic. Feelings are running high in these communities and frustrations are growing.

HJ (also anonymous) told me:

Contrast in messaging between EU and UK

For many living in EU when we look over to Britain, it is not a pretty sight. Measures here in Europe, certainly in Spain, have been clear and concise throughout. Most of us feel that there has been a high level of social responsibility and seriousness from the government.

When we look at our home nation, we are dumbfounded by what is going on. While variants happen and no country should be entirely blamed, let’s face the facts. Europe’s third wave was caused in the main by the Kent (Alpha) variant. It was far more transmissible, originated there likely because measures were so lax, and it quickly spread to Europe.

Julie Ley Gibbs talked of the stress and confusion, and the feelings of missing family:

Rise of the Delta variant

Spain, France, and other countries are now seeing dramatic rises in the Delta variant. The Delta variant originated in India yes, but it is widely accepted that the reason 99 percent of infections in the UK are now the Delta variant is because Boris Johnson thought more of a trade deal with India than the health of his nation and did not place India on the red list when it should have been.

Rita Vost told me, “We haven’t seen our family since June 2019 and it’s killing me BUT I have just read that a huge percentage of people arriving from Spain are testing positive. How the hell can this be true when everyone has to have a PCR test before travel? I don’t believe this Government!”

While everyone has had to put up with covid restrictions and rearrange plans, it is clear from elements of the British media that the UK seems to expect to be treated differently to the rest of the Europe. Every time Europe even considers bringing in tougher restrictions on British travellers there is an immediate backlash, which ultimately seems to take on a form of ‘Brexit revenge’ when in fact Britain’s nickname ‘plague Island’ should give the reality away

Brexit games?

The Daily Express wrote on Friday 30 July : Europe “is poised to trigger a new travel war as revenge for Lord Frost’s Brexit hard balling”. Please, the only Brexit games being played are by the British government and their right-wing supporting media. Their childishness and exceptionalism seem to know no bounds. The UK government is far more likely to implement policy based on jingoism and sheer incompetence. When you have been used by your government as political pawns for years, the behaviour becomes easy to spot.

France being placed on the amber+ list has added to the mistrust. On GISAID – a database that collates genetically sequenced Covid-19 samples from around the world – 14.2 percent of Spanish submissions and 1.9 percent of French submission were the Beta variant. It again makes no sense.

Grazia B said:

Bitterness and disappointment

So, while British nationals living in Europe are delighted that eventually the UK government seems to have got its act together and reciprocated to EU citizens what it should have done weeks ago, the whole fiasco has left a lot of bitterness and disappointment.

There is very little trust that the government guidelines are thought through, follow data and science, and are not based on political gameplay rather than practicality. Of course, every country has to make health decisions based on what is best for its citizens. But this doesn’t seem to be what the UK government is doing.

To many from the outside looking in, we see Britain as the sick man of Europe who hasn’t been able to get a grip on the pandemic at any point. And for that we are all being made to pay the price.

Bremain Chair Sue Wilson MBE writes for Yorkshire Bylines about the ongoing UK issues with the Northern Ireland Protocol:

Over the last few days, rumours have been rife as to the UK’s plans to resolve issues surrounding the Northern Ireland protocol. Rhetoric from Lord Frost – the UK’s Brexit negotiator – has been ramping up over recent weeks.

Would the new proposal – the ‘command plan’ – be more constructive, or just more UK government sabre-rattling?

At the beginning of the month, Frost described the truce between the EU and the UK, in the so-called ‘sausage wars’, as merely a “sticking plaster”. As a direct response, relations with the EU were said to be deteriorating, following Frost’s “strange” remarks, with European Commission vice president, Maroš Šefčovič, warning that the EU may step up plans for legal action against the UK.

Accepting responsibility for Brexi

The government’s denial of responsibility for the consequences of Brexit is not new. Frost in particular has washed his hands of any blame for the failings of his own – once touted – Brexit deal. That blame is being laid firmly at the EU’s door, with claims of EU inflexibility and purism.

Not one to be left out of any EU Brexit bashing, Prime Minister Johnson joined in the blame game attacking the EU over the Northern Ireland protocol, and providing a committee of ministers with a list of the issues. Not quite the ‘oven ready’ deal that he persuaded parliament to support, it would seem.

By the second week of July, Frost was promising answers on the Northern Ireland protocol before summer recess, accusing the EU of dodging the “heart of the problem” in post-Brexit trade.

While Frost continued to insist the protocol was the cause of all problems, the EU disagreed. On a recent trip to Dublin, European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said the protocol was the “only solution” to the problems caused by Brexit.

Pump up the volume

Prior to Wednesday’s big announcement, the scene was being set with Frost talking of deviating from the Brexit deal and “pumping up the volume”. The expectation was that the UK would invoke Article 16 of the protocol, which allows either party to take unilateral action if the application of the protocol “leads to serious economic, societal or environmental difficulties that are liable to persist”.

By Wednesday morning, more supposed details of the government’s command plan were beginning to emerge. In a conversation between Boris Johnson and Irish Taoiseach, Michael Martin on Tuesday evening, Johnson said the Northern Ireland protocol was “causing significant disruption”, according to a Downing Street spokesperson.

Johnson called on the EU to “address the serious issues that have arisen” with Brexit in Northern Ireland. Sources described the proposal as “meaningful” and “a significant piece of work”, saying the move to eliminate border checks represented a “wholesale change of approach”. It was also anticipated that alongside the plan would be a threat – to suspend the Northern Ireland protocol altogether.

Brandon Lewis and David Frost will unveil the government's new thinking on the Northern Ireland Protocol tomorrow afternoon

It's a "significant piece of work," a UK source says

EU is bracing itself for a bold statement. "It probably won't make us happy"https://t.co/z6Gp0eB3zn

— Adam Payne (@adampayne26) July 20, 2021

Brexit expert David Henig commented in a Twitter thread that any ‘new thinking’ or indeed just ‘thinking’ would be welcome from the UK government”, but added that expectations were “low”.

To be honest 'new thinking' or indeed just 'thinking' would be welcome from the UK government with regard to the Northern Ireland protocol, as compared to the usual shallow analysis, reheated leftovers and empty threats. Expectations low. https://t.co/BYEGI8Y07X

— David Henig (@DavidHenigUK) July 20, 2021

Henig added that the idea of the proposed “honesty box” approach at the border had not been considered by other nations, perhaps because it was a “completely ridiculous” idea. He went on to point out that any mention of Article 16 should come with the warning that any measures taken are both “limited and open to retaliatory measures”

Frost’s command plan

When the plan was finally announced on Wednesday afternoon, it brought no real surprises, other than the government stopping short of the triggering of Article 16. Apparently, “now is not the right moment to do so”. Frost said the proposals would require “significant change to the Northern Ireland protocol” – a step he said the UK would not “shy away” from. That significant change is, no doubt, expected to come only from the EU side of the debate. Frost added:

Many commentators and onlookers may disagree with that assessment, citing Frost and Johnson as the main barriers to a strong, mutually beneficial partnership between Britain and Europe.

It is clear that the battle between Europe and the UK is set to continue, with the EU having the upper hand and international law on its side

The UK plan will have come as no surprise to the EU, though will likely have caused considerable irritation. The EU, like us, is used to the UK government failing to recognise the realities of Brexit, or indeed of international trade. The government has yet again proved it doesn’t understand the workings, or perhaps even the aims, of the European Union.

I had expected the EU to give the UK government’s latest proposal due consideration, before they said no. As they were bound to. Because they have no choice. It’s a ridiculous plan with no hope of success. But they immediately poured cold water on the idea. Šefčovič said, “we will continue to engage with the UK, also on the suggestions made today. We are ready to continue to seek creative solutions, within the framework of the Protocol, in the interests of all communities in Northern Ireland. However, we will not agree to a renegotiation of the Protocol”.

The Brexit fantasy

When asked in the House of Lords on Monday to name the benefits of Brexit, Lord Frost replied:

He proved then, as he proved again today, that his Brexit is a fantasy. This isn’t a plan, command or otherwise. It’s sabre-rattling nonsense of the highest order. And the country deserves better.

Here’s Bremain Chair Sue Wilson´s latest article for Yorkshire Bylines:

When Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, announced that quarantine measures would soon be lifted for fully vaccinated Brits, the news was largely welcomed. Until Brits abroad looked at the small print. The new measures would only apply to British citizens in the UK, vaccinated by the NHS, and not to British citizens abroad.

Labour MP, Ben Bradshaw, immediately raised this issue in parliament. Bradshaw pointed out that, even for countries on the government’s green list, travel this summer was more restricted than last summer, despite the vaccination programme. He said reciprocity with other countries was “absolutely vital” and the lack of immediate reciprocity meant other countries were “less likely to open up to us any time soon”. He asked Shapps, “why when so many European countries already accept our vaccine passport are we incapable of accepting theirs now?” While Shapps acknowledged that reciprocity is “very important”, he said negotiations were ongoing, and that the government would move “as quickly as possible”.

While today's travel announcement is welcome, it still leaves us more restricted than last summer, when we didn't have the vaccine & it lacks reciprocity, which other countries have already. My question to @grantshapps #speakupfortravel #SaveOurSummer pic.twitter.com/KL0ZMSv5zH

— Ben Bradshaw (@BenPBradshaw) July 8, 2021

Shapps later told LBC that he was expecting to strike a deal with EU countries “within weeks”, to allow the UK to recognise EU Covid vaccine certification – the EU Digital Pass.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps tells LBC he expects to strike a deal with EU countries “within weeks” to recognise other nation's Covid jabs – meaning people who got double jabbed on the continent could travel to England without quarantining.@TomSwarbrick1 pic.twitter.com/mysZbzYq7T

— LBC (@LBC) July 9, 2021

With Spain currently on the government’s amber list, all travellers arriving in the UK are required to quarantine for 10 days. They also need to have a negative test result before leaving Spain & have two further tests on day 2 and day 8 of isolation. These measures, and the not inconsiderable costs attached, are preventing many from visiting family and friends in the UK. Many have not seen family members – parents, children, grandchildren – for over a year. When those family members are elderly or infirm, there is always the worry they may never see them again.

Bremain in Spain members were quick to voice their anger and frustration. Lorna Cage said, “I’m utterly bereft. I really can’t take much more of this. My mother is 92 and I haven’t seen my children for 18 months. We are inoculated with a drug licenced by the UK and we are British citizens. This is political game playing at our expense”.

Just had daughter on the phone in tears. I’m furious. She has a valid EU vaccination certificate. Apparently Wembley & Wimbledon can be packed with fans but British citizens who happen to live in an EU country can’t visit their family without quarantining. 🤬🤬🤬

— Roaring Meg #makevotesmatter (@Megthelibraria1) July 8, 2021

Ruth Woodhouse said, “as of 1 July, the EU has had a fully-functioning digital Covid certificate scheme in place. Therefore I see absolutely no reason why the process should not be extremely simple”. She described the measures as “discriminatory” and “heartbreaking”

The pain of quarantine for separated families

Helen Johnston expressed the difficulties for those who cannot quarantine with family members, saying, “Grant Shapps says he has sympathy for families kept apart by Covid, but the government has, it seems, given no thought to the circumstances of people who live abroad. Returning holidaymakers have a home to go to, but many of us have nowhere suitable to stay, and so are obliged to stay in hotels. With holiday accommodation in the UK scarce and priced at a premium this summer, the government’s refusal to reciprocate on recognising EU vaccine certificates is effectively making it impossible for us to see our families”.

Although some families will be reunited thanks to the lifting of quarantine restrictions, not all Brits abroad can rely on their families travelling to see them. Apart from some very real fears about any travel during the pandemic, not everyone is able physically or financially, to visit family in Europe.

Michael Soffe shared sentiments familiar to many, saying, “I am furious about this as all I want to do is visit my 92 year old parents without having to go into quarantine. I cannot be away from Spain for 10, 12, 14 days!”

Brits living in Spain ‘furious’ that new quarantine exemption doesn’t apply to those vaccinated outside UK

These are exactly the same vaccines administered by sophisticated healthcare systems

This is Brexit politics not public health policyhttps://t.co/B0WZuLRCWa

— Green💚Molly (@GreenPartyMolly) July 9, 2021

A lack of reciprocity in quarantine arrangements?

Vaccinations used across the EU are the same as those used in the UK. Not only that, they are produced using the same production methods, and often the same production facilities. The EU covid certification is recognised widely, not least by the 27 EU member states, and EU countries widely recognise the UK NHS system. There seem to be no legal or scientific reasons for the UK government decision, so we can only assume – as with all things EU related – that the decision is purely an ideological one. Certainly, as with so many things involving our government and covid, logic and common sense play little part in the decision-making process

Covid cases in the UK are at their highest level for many months. Meanwhile, the vaccination programme that the government have been so proud of, and have seemingly regarded as the cure to all covid ills, has slowed down considerably. The speed with which the EU has rolled out their own vaccination programme – both doses – is starting to look more efficient by comparison, despite a speedy UK start.

Vaccination levels in the UK are now at a considerably lower level than earlier in the year, with the number of first doses on 7 July at 86,953, compared to 752,308 at their peak on 20 March (source: government website). It would therefore seem that decisions about the effectiveness of covid measures by other countries are not being made based on scientific data, but on politics.

Thanks to @BenPBradshaw for raising this issue with the "transport" secretary.
Brits in EU want to travel to see family in UK too! Some haven't seen family for over a year, & elderly parents in UK can't make the journey.
Yet again excluded by our own government.@BremainInSpain pic.twitter.com/Vw031a41gV

— Sue Wilson (@Suewilson91) July 8, 2021

As Bradshaw pointed out, most of Europe should have been on the green list weeks ago, and if Europe can recognise our vaccine passports, why can’t the UK government recognise theirs?