Former Deputy Prime Minister Sir David Lidington Speaks to Daisy McAndrew on Vaccine Passports

David Lidington, the former cabinet office minister and de facto deputy PM to Theresa May has told Times Radio that allowing access to events on the basis of "some sort of government certificate of approval" is a "dangerous precedent" and raises "all sorts of really difficult problems about implementation".

He was speaking to Daisy McAndrew, sitting in for Tom Newton Dunn on Times Radio. Full quote below. Please credit Times Radio.

Daivd Lidington: I'm much, much more cautious about the government, laying down a law that people should actually have access to particular events in in civil society, only if they've got some sort of government certificate of approval. I think that's a pretty dangerous precedent, and it also raises all sorts of really difficult practical problems about implementation, I mean, whose responsibility is it to actually carry out these checks. What sanctions do they have against an individual who resists having a check. Government at the moment is saying that these proposed rules for large scale venues with lots of people that they would not apply to under a teens because of course under 18 are not being offered vaccinations. So if you're 17, years, and 11 months old, you get into, let's say the football ground or a concert or the nightclub. If you're allowed in but but if you're 18 years and one day, then you can only do so if you've got the government vaccine passport. That seems to me not to make sense in terms of risk analysis so I think there are better ways of persuading young people to take up the vaccine and I'd like to see the government, working out who it is that the young people, the audience, they're targeting, listen to that, is it sports stars is it bands, is it YouTube influencers, but try to enlist the support of the people that the young people who you're trying to reach themselves trust and want to hear from.

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