Welcome To The Hotel Quarantina

Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government

Institute for Government

News, Politics, Government

4.6 • 252 Ratings

🗓️ 12 February 2021

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Will the Government’s draconian plans for quarantine for travellers really work? How can ten years in prison and £10,000 fines be proportionate to the offence? And why can’t the Government get its line right on whether we can or can’t go on holiday this year? Plus, what are we learning from the unfolding story of vaccine success in the UK and comparative failure in the EU? Is Global Britain going to prove to be rather insular and nationalistic? And is Priti Patel going to carry the can for the Home Office’s data disaster? “The Government’s quarantine plans have so many holes you could drive a truck through them.” – Sarah Nickson “We criticise this Government for not learning. Well these quarantine plans are evidence of them learning – and maybe overreacting.” – Giles Wilkes “One thing the Government has done well is to be honest and upfront about the risks of experimenting with the vaccine.” – Alex Thomas “If the Government pursues quarantine at the expense of containing the virus at home, it looks like a policy designed to seem decisive rather than being effective.” – Sarah Nickson “A company suddenly being British doesn’t make it any easier to tell them what to do with their R&D.” – Giles Wilkes “Gordon Brown’s fall from Stalin to Mr. Bean was partially due to his government’s data problems.” – Alex Thomas Presented by Bronwen Maddox with Jill Rutter, Alex Thomas, Giles Wilkes and Sarah Nickson. Audio production by Alex Rees See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome back to Inside Briefing, the podcast from the Institute for Government.
0:14.5	I'm Bronwyn Maddox.
0:17.0	One minister has told people not to book summer holidays.
0:20.0	Another has warned that you could be hit with a 10-year prison sentence if you lie about where you've been on holiday. Just imagine predicting that a year ago.
0:26.6	A new hotel quarantine system is coming into force? But is it tough enough? Will it achieve the government's aims? Or is it in fact too tough and also won't achieve those aims?
0:36.6	If Global Britain is looking well rather closed at the
0:39.7	moment, what might it look like in a post-pandemic future? With UK scientists at four of the
0:44.7	government's vaccines policy and a half-British company, AstraZeneca, playing a key role,
0:50.0	might Global Britain be rather nationalistic in its outlook? We'll discuss. And then we'll end the
0:55.4	podcast by digging into some favourite IFG territory, accountability for government mistakes. More than
1:01.6	400,000 fingerprints, DNA, arrest and other records may have been wiped from police databases
1:07.1	after a home office blunder. An investigation is underway, but who might be to blame
1:12.8	and what does it tell us about how the mistake happened? Well, I've got a top-classed IFG trio
1:18.7	with me in the virtual studio today. Giles Wilkes is our senior fellow and a former advisor in
1:23.6	number 10 in the business department. Giles, thanks for joining us. Hi there.
1:28.6	And we've got Alex Thomas, who leads our civil service work and has also spent time as a civil
1:32.6	servant working at the heart of government. Hi, Alex. Hello, Bronwyn. And we have again,
1:37.8	Jill Rutter, IFG senior fellow and veteran of number 10 and the Treasury. Hi again, Jill. Good morning.
1:48.1	Let's start then by looking at a policy which is slowly taking shape and that's the new airport quarantine plan. Matt Hancock,
1:54.0	the health secretary, has taken charge and he's announced that from Monday, people arriving in England
1:58.5	from red list countries must isolate for 10 days in hotels,
2:02.4	costing them 1,750 pounds. And whatever you do, don't lie about your recent travel history.
	...

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