Petition raised to remove Portugal from UK’s red list

Tobi Hughes·
Madeira News

Portugal’s virus situation has vastly improved since the British government imposed a travel ban.

A petition has begun in the UK to see the ban lifted. Last weekend Portuguese ambassador to the UK, Manuel Lobo Antunes labeled the ban “disproportionate and unfair”.

This week’s petition explains: “As one of our oldest allies it is time to take Portugal off the travel Red List. Our formerly strong relationship with the country is on the brink of collapse. Portugal has a good tourism and working relationship with the UK and the issue of them being singled out needs to be addressed”.

So far, almost 13,000 people have signed the petition which needed 10,000 signatures in order to be considered for debate in the UK parliament.

Click Below to Sign the Petition

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Tobi Hughes

25 Responses

  2. I thought the British government had made all holiday travel before May 17 illegal. Some people still don’t seem to understand what a deadly global pandemic is.

      1. I assume they can fly back to a European hub, change flights, on arrival state where their flight originated from, then quarantine at their expense at a Government designated hotel.

        1. Hi, if a passenger from Madeira is considered a high Covid risk then flying home via another country would be very irresponsible and shouldn’t be encouraged. You could put other passengers on the flight at risk – and as they don’t have to hotel quarantine on arrival it renders the whole exercise pretty pointless. Yvette Cooper used the term ‘leaky sieve’. Better to insist on short hotel Q for ALL arrivals until they have the result to a test done on arrival. If-ve let them complete their quarantine at home; if +ve keep them isolated in the hotel. Then use the red list for real high risk zones – not Portugal!

  5. Portugal is only on the red list because of close ties with Brazil I think. Once the vaccines have been tweaked to combat the varient experienced in Manaus I’d like to think it will be reviewed. In the meantime perhaps the islands will be treated separately from the mainland, as happened last year

      1. Yes, we need to bring the numbers down to whatever numbers UK permits us to have.

  6. Hi Tobi, you’re right, there are dozens of people trying to get back to the UK, a lot of airlines are still taking bookings which is letting all of these people down, as they keep being cancelled.
    Hi Richard Greaves, everyone i have bumped into in Funchal has had their emails to receive the vaccine, which they obviously can’t turn up for. The UK is obviously the place to be irrespective of whether it was right or wrong to travel.

  7. Richard – this petition is to remove Portugal from the UK red list nothing to do with tourism at this stage which could be a long way off for all countries as the UK GOV will only review this on 17 may … Signed it ?

    1. May 17 ? I would think that the situation is reviewed on a daily basis and that the petition has everything to do with tourism. Which just happens to feed a lot of people.

  8. Yes, all holiday travel is banned in the UK until 17th May. The reason Portugal is on the red list is due to the emergence of the new variant which is more highly infectious, potentially more dangerous AND is suspected to be more resistant to vaccines.
    These decisions are not made just to “wind people up” and mess up their travel plans, it’s about the protection of society, locally and globally. Given the connections Portugal and Madeira have with Brazil it would be reckless to allow travel. We too miss our holidays to Madeira, the Island and people we love, but would rather wait until the science says we can go…and then we’ll be there in a heartbeat !

  10. As well as signing the petition I have emailed my MP asking him to lobby the relevant minister(s) and he has given his support. Easy to do. Look on gov.UK website and you can find your MP from your postcode, and his/her email address. Remember to give your address and postcode so they know you live in their constituency. As others have said, this is not just about holidays, it’s to help those who travelled to Madeira legally before lockdown get home without the expense or ordeal of hotel quarantine. Home quarantine is mandatory anyway. Although Madeira has community transmission at the moment the level is still much lower than U.K. and many other countries. There is no Brazil or SA variant here and no flight links to Brazil / SA to bring it.
    Management at Savoy Palace are helping to spread the word to U.K. guests and to encourage local government to make the case.
    Madeira should not be on the red list.

  12. UK should keep this red alert active and enforce it until such time that Portuguese and Madeira authorities learn to show some respect for elderly British people who visit their country.
    Portuguese need to stop the inhumane and degrading way they treat us

  14. Portugal would count itself extremely lucky to be removed off the UK Red list for non holiday travel.

    The UK could be adding more countries soon to Red list not removing them.

  15. The country that should been in that read list should been the UK country since was more South America and South Africa variants but instead blaming and punting another countries in the list they should look in their own that late deiced to make any decision about the traveling control from another countries

  16. Do you know how many UK residents have arrived in Madeira since early January ?

  17. Madeira tourism was and is priority over Pandemic stop blaming other countries especially UK for your own foolish governments mistakes.

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