Brits willing to carry Covid vaccine passport if it means pubs and restaurants can reopen sooner

BRITS are willing to carry a vaccine passport if it means pubs and restaurants can reopen sooner, a poll reveals.

Six in ten people back the idea of introducing documents to prove they have had a jab.

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Ministers have been looking at plans to force families to show an immunisation certificate before they go on holiday abroad.

But the vast majority of people would be happy if it went much further and it was required for entry to a pub, restaurant, theatre or sporting event.

They are not put off by experts’ concerns that a Covid passport might discriminate against young, pregnant or those who cannot have a jab for medical reasons.

Some 62 per cent say they would be happy to carry one for all circumstances – with a further 22 per cent willing to have one for foreign travel. 

Only 15 per cent say they would be opposed to carrying one at all, according to a Redfield and Wilton Strategies poll for Trending In The News on Sunday.

The findings are a major boost for Boris Johnson as he puts the finishing touches to his “roadmap” to unlock Britain this weekend.

Whitehall officials have been in talks with Manchester-based tech firm VST Enterprises about a passport that can be carried on smartphones to unlock all sorts of activities banned by lockdown rules.

In a second fillip for the PM, more than half the population believe the vaccination programme has been a roaring success.

Asking to mark it from one to six, 52 per cent awarded him five or six, with a further 29 per cent rating him a four – that’s 81 per cent in the top categories.

There is also overwhelming support for Mr Johnson’s controversial quarantine rules – which force people arriving from “red list” countries to pay £1,750 to isolate for 10 days in a hotel room or face up to 10 years in jail.

A massive 76 per cent believe it does not go too far, with only 24 per cent branding it excessive.

But many want him to go further, with 53 per cent say the UK’s current border restrictions are not strict enough.

There is firm support for the lockdown – meaning the PM will have to tread carefully when he draws up his roadmap to recovery this week.

Some 56 per cent think the current restrictions are “about right”, with 26 per cent saying they are too relaxed. Only 18 per cent believe the rules are too restrictive.

And there is a three-way split on lockdown lifting – a third think the PM has got the balance right, another third say he is too cautious and the rest accuse him of being too impatient.

There is a similar split over expectations of a return to normal life. A third think they will get their lives back by summer, a similar amount believe it will be the end of the year.

But as many as 21 per cent fear it will take until the summer of 2022 before we are back to normal.