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Vaccine passports for theatres will be ‘nail in coffin’

London Coliseum Social Distanced Opera Audience - Richard Baker/Getty Images
London Coliseum Social Distanced Opera Audience - Richard Baker/Getty Images

Vaccine passports could be required for theatre visits from next month under government plans that hospitality chiefs said would be a “further nail in the coffin” of many live venues.

The Government is proposing adults over 18 will have to show they have been double jabbed in order to enter large venues, which could include bigger theatres with capacities for audiences of well over 500. The largest West End theatres can accommodate up to 2,300 people.

Nadhim Zahawi, the vaccines minister, said on Sunday that the use of the certificates for big venues as well as nightclubs was “the right thing to do” because larger numbers of people mixing in close proximity “could end up causing a real spike in infections”.

He indicated that the Government was looking to introduce the certification by the end of September when all over-18s had been vaccinated.

He said it was the “best way” to keep the economy open and avoid having to reimpose coronavirus restrictions in the winter, adding that he wanted to do “everything in my power” to avoid a fourth national lockdown.

Final decisions have yet to be taken on the size and type of venue but the rules are expected to be “broadly similar” to those in Scotland.

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has proposed that vaccine passports will be compulsory for unseated live events with audiences of more than 500 people indoors or 4,000 outdoors. All events with an audience of more than 10,000 would also be covered, whether seated or unseated.

However, sources indicated on Sunday night that theatres where people attending can still mingle in close proximity on arrival and departure could be added. “I would be surprised if they were exempt,” said one source.

Another source said: “It would depend on the criteria that applies. It is not just about capacity but the policy detail is still being worked through.”

Kate Nicholls, the chief executive of Hospitality UK, said the Government would open itself to legal action if it excluded theatres where people mixed but required it in other smaller live venues. “It’s potentially discriminatory against a younger age demographic and an industry sector,” she said.

Hugh Osmond, the founder of Punch Taverns, has already threatened legal action against the Government over vaccine passports for nightclubs as discriminatory against the young.

Ms Nicholls warned it could cut customers by 20 per cent. “There is a significant proportion of people who don’t want to use passports or are not vaccinated. It has settled at 20 per cent in France. We expect something similar here,” she said.

She added: “It will also add administrative costs for part of the industry which is already facing an uphill battle of getting back. This would be a further nail in the coffin of returning for many venues.”

Michael Kill, of the Night Time Industries Association, said the plans had already started deterring people with ticket sales from the end of September “flatlining”. “We are seeing a lot of pushback from people who don’t want to come and have to show their health status on entry,” he said.

However, Mr Zahawi defended the plans: “The worst thing we can do for those venues is to have a sort of open-shut-open-shut strategy because we see infection rates rise because of the close interaction of people.

“That’s how the virus spreads, if people are in close spaces in large numbers we see spikes appearing. The best thing to do then is to work with the industry to make sure that they can open safely and sustainably in the long term, and the best way to do that is to check vaccine status.”

He added: “Nobody enjoys, by the way, in this Government, certainly not this Prime Minister, having restrictions on people’s freedoms. It goes against the DNA of this Government to do that.”

Meanwhile, Scottish Labour is to oppose the Scottish government’s vaccine passport plans for nightclubs and large events.

MSPs are due to vote on Ms Sturgeon’s vaccine certification proposals this week, with the Liberal Democrats also expected to oppose them. The First Minister said she wanted to introduce the scheme “quickly” in response to surging Covid-19 infections, warning they could rise to 10,000 a day.