Politics latest news: Opposition to 'discriminatory' vaccine passports grows as Labour hints it will vote against them

• Normality some way off, says PM

• Covid passports to become ‘part of our lives’

• ​What are Covid vaccine passports and how might they work in the UK?

• Coronavirus latest news: Roadmap could be 'sped up' if case numbers continue to fall

• Labour on course for defeat in Hartlepool by-election

A Government pilot of vaccine passports in the UK has been condemned by MPs as "discriminatory", Labour signalled it may vote against the scheme in the Commons.

Jon Ashworth, Labour's shadow health secretary, said his party would "have to be convinced" to vote for the measures but that he "could not support" a system of "digital ID cards" in shops.

Ministers have not suggested using Covid certificates in shops, but Mr Ashworth said documentation published by the Government last night floated the possibility in future.

"I do think it is discriminatory to say to somebody here in Leicester that you cannot go into Next or H&M unless you produce your vaccination status on an app or digital ID card," he said.

"I don't think that is fair."

With 41 Tory rebels having already stated their opposition to the passports, Boris Johnson could lose a vote in Parliament if Labour votes against the measures.

Asked directly whether Labour planned to oppose Covid certificates, Mr Ashworth said Labour would first seek more clarity on how they would be used.

Sir Keir Starmer previously used an interview with The Telegraph to suggest the passports would be un-British.

Nadhim Zahawi, the vaccines minister, on Tuesday said the vaccine passport pilot was the "right and responsible thing to do".

​​Follow the latest updates below.

12:03 PM

Boris Johnson to visit India despite 100k new cases per day

The Prime Minister will travel to India on an official visit despite the country recording more than 100,000 new cases a day - it's highest during the pandemic.

Mr Johnson's spokesman was asked whether he still planned to visit despite the high figures.

"As it stands, the plan is for the Prime Minister to visit India at the end of this month," the spokesman said.

"That hasn’t changed."

Read more about the situation in India here.

11:50 AM

Scrap tube and bus fares to get London back to work, says Laurence Fox

Laurence Fox has promised to scrap Tube and bus fares for six months in an attempt to lure Londoners back to the office if he is successful in his bid to become Mayor of London.

TFL figures show usage of London transport fell to 70-80 per cent of pre-pandemic levels during the second lockdown in January.

Mr Fox said: “Londoners need to be free to get back to work, back to having fun, back to seeing our friends and families. The heart of our city is being hollowed out while we stay away.

“Lockdown has cost London’s economy more than £55 billion, but it has cost Londoners far more in lost income, missed opportunity, time without loved ones, cancelled operations and rising crime".

11:20 AM

Minister hints Gulf states and US will be on 'green list' for travel

Nadhim Zahawi, the vaccines minister, has hinted that Bahrain, Israel and the United States could be on the UK's "green" list for travel after May 17.

Speaking at an event with the Bahraini and Israeli embassies this afternoon, Mr Zahawi was asked whether the two countries would feature on the list, since they both have strong vaccine rollouts.

"You're going to have to wait and see," he said.

"But clearly there are a number of countries who have done tremendously well - not least Bahrain and Israel, of course - the United States of America, and others.

"But the Vaccine Taskforce is looking at exactly how we are going to move forward with reopening the skies effectively, which is really important.

"Part of that obviously is also making sure we operationalize the ability for our citizens to have a test certificate or a vaccination certificate, which the NHS is working on at the moment, so that we make sure that the protocols that we all adhere to are global, and can bring in other countries as they progress with vaccination immunisation of their nations as well."

10:50 AM

Sadiq Khan to establish commission on cannabis legalisation

Sadiq Khan will establish a new commission to examine the use of drugs in the capital if he is re-elected as mayor of London next month.

The Labour incumbent has pledged to start the group of independent experts for "fresh ideas" if he wins a new mandate in the May 6 election.

These experts from fields including criminal justice, community relations and public health, will examine evidence on the harms of drugs, support services and prevention, the effectiveness of current laws as well as tackling the root causes of crime.

It would be expected to report to the Mayor with policy recommendations including for City Hall, the police, health services and central Government.

The Guardian reported that according to a source close to the mayor, Mr Khan would be willing to consider supporting changes to the legal status of cannabis if that is the view of the commission.

Mr Khan does not have the power to legalise cannabis in his role as Mayor of London.

10:23 AM

Boris Johnson visits AstraZeneca plant

Boris Johnson is visiting an AstraZeneca plant to learn more about the company's £361 million investment into the site.

10:14 AM

Labour admit defeat in Hartlepool - with a month left to go

Further to this morning's news that the Tories are seven points ahead in Hartlepool ahead of next month's by-election, a Labour source tells the Telegraph that the party now expects the Conservatives to win there for the first time since 1959.

“Labour would have lost Hartlepool in 2019 had it not been for the Brexit Party," the source said.

"In the context of the vaccine bounce, the Conservatives should take this seat.”

Read more about the race for one of the toughest seats in the Red Wall here.

09:44 AM

Put US and Israel on the green list, says Virgin Atlantic boss

The CEO of Virgin Atlantic, Shai Weiss, said destinations that should be on the "green" list for international travel from May 17 include the US, Israel and the Caribbean.

He said the US is "vaccinating over three million people per day", Israel is "the world's leading vaccinated country", and the Caribbean "has done an awesome job throughout this pandemic of keeping things under control".

He added: "I think these three areas should be on that list."

Read more: Which countries will be green, amber and red in the new holiday traffic light system?

Speaking at a joint press conference, Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said the United Arab Emirates could be included as "they also have very high levels of vaccination".

He went on: "There are plenty of long-haul countries which have low Covid levels, and many of them have high vaccination levels also."

09:16 AM

Vaccine passports make sense and aren't new anyway, says prof

Vaccine passports are not a new idea and "sort of make sense," a former Chief Scientific Adviser has said.

Professor Sir Mark Walport told BBC Breakfast: "The concept of the vaccine passport is actually not new. "There are a number of countries in the world that require a yellow fever certificate of vaccination in your passport if they're going to let you into the country.

"So there isn't anything new here and it will not be any one country that takes decisions about vaccine certification for travelling overseas.

"When it comes to how you manage single events here, where people may be crammed together at quite a high density in indoor environments, where they may be sitting down for quite prolonged periods, there scientifically if you can reduce the chances of people coming into an event who are actually infected, then you're reducing the exposure for others.

"So it sort of makes sense. But there are then questions about how you logistically implement that because it's quite clearly complicated, it could be very onerous if you're talking about small events with 20 or 30 people."

08:51 AM

Andrew Roberts: Tories must stick up for police against rioters

The historian Andrew Roberts has written for today's Telegraph calling for more action by the Government to protect the police from Left-wing rioters.

"If you throw a Molotov cocktail under a petrol-engined van containing policemen in Bristol, or attempt to set fire to a police station nearby, you are committing attempted murder, and it is high time that the liberal wing of the Conservative Party spoke up more vocally for the thin blue line standing between civilisation and murderous anarchy," he writes.

"It needs to be more widely appreciated that there is a large number of seditious, hard-Left and anarchist thugs in this country who are willing to go far beyond mere agitprop."

Read his column here.

08:18 AM

Testing regime means holidays for the rich, says easyJet boss

Requiring holidaymakers returning from low-risk countries to pay for two coronavirus tests will only reopen international travel "for people who can afford it", the boss of easyJet has warned.

Chief executive Johan Lundgren claimed passengers should not face "more complexities and cost" for visiting "green" destinations.

On Monday, the Government unveiled the outline of a traffic light system for enabling overseas leisure travel to resume as part of the easing of coronavirus restrictions.

Travellers returning from countries rated "green" will not be required to self-isolate, although pre-departure and post-arrival tests will still be needed.

Mr Lundgren told BBC Breakfast: "It should not be needed to put any more complexities and cost in order to travel to and from those destinations."

Read more on our travel live blog.

07:55 AM

What next for the lockdown roadmap?

Boris Johnson yesterday said the UK was on track to begin step two of the lockdown roadmap from April 12.

That means the third step is still planned for May 17, and the final step for June 21.

Here are the key dates for your diary:

07:47 AM

Moderna vaccine to begin rollout in a fortnight

The Moderna vaccine will be in deployment "around the third week of April", vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi has confirmed.

"It will be in deployment around the third week of April in the NHS and we will get more volume in May as well," he told BBC Breakfast.

"And of course more volume of Pfizer and Oxford/AstraZeneca and we have got other vaccines. We have got the Janssen - Johnson and Johnson - vaccine coming through as well.

"So I am confident that we will be able to meet our target of mid-April offering the vaccine to all over-50s and then end of July offering the vaccine to all adults."

Read more: Moderna vaccine '100 per cent effective' against serious Covid

07:40 AM

Tories 'on course to win Hartlepool' with seven-point lead

A new poll shows the Conservative Party has a seven point lead in Hartlepool ahead of the by-election there next month.

A phone poll carried out by Survation showed Jill Mortimer, the Tory candidate, would see off Labour's Dr Paul Williams by 49 per cent of the vote to 42 per cent.

The seat has been Labour-held since 1964 but was the site of a close race between Labour, the Tories and the Brexit Party in 2019.

If Sir Keir Starmer loses the seat, it would be the latest in a series of so-called Red Wall constituencies to fall to the Conservative Party.

07:34 AM

Nadhim Zahawi: Covid certificate pilot is 'right and responsible'

Nadhim Zahawi has defended the Government's pilot of vaccine passports as the "right and responsible thing to do" following criticism of the scheme from MPs.

"It's only responsible as we see how this virus behaves, as we see how other countries are utilising technologies to make sure that they keep the virus under control, that we should look at the same thing," he told Sky News this morning.

"It's only the right thing to do. We're all working towards the same outcome, which is to get our lives back up and running."

Mr Zahawi said there would be no requirement to prove Covid status in steps two or three of the roadmap.

"You'll be able to sip your pint, without requiring any form of certification," he said.

07:32 AM

Good morning

Parliament is still in recess but it is set to be a busy day in Westminster nonetheless, with all eyes on the Labour Party and what they will do about vaccine passports.

Last night it was revealed that the MHRA - the UK's medicines regulator - is considering restricting the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in younger people over blood clot fears. More here.

Lockdown sceptics have been agonising over the latest Government modelling on the shape of the pandemic's curve, which suggests that some measures may be needed beyond June 21 to avoid a deadly third wave of Covid.

Meanwhile, a Government adviser has suggested that lockdown's easing could be sped up if cases continue to fall.