Mandatory vaccine passports threat to British freedom, Tory MP fears

3 April 2021, 11:33 | Updated: 3 April 2021, 11:35

Tory MP hints that vaccine passports may be breach of liberties

The chair of the 1922 Committee warns that Brits must be aware of the risk to civil liberties posed by mandatory vaccine passports.

Sir Graham Brady of the 1922 Committee joined Matt Frei to stress the dangers of implementing mandatory vaccine passports in the UK, warning that the public risk permanently losing their civil liberties.

Sir Graham wrote earlier in the week that "the kind of freedoms that we are losing right now are the kind of freedoms we fought for" in WWII, and Matt argued that it is "the government is taking them away from us," under the cover of the pandemic.

The 1922 Committee chair told LBC that he has a "duty to make sure people are aware what is happening."

He warned that most of the people who support domestic vaccine passports "have got to be thinking this through," and consider the long-term affects of sacrificing civil liberties.

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Matt wondered if Sir Graham felt as though the public are "sleepwalking into a police state" by supporting a policy of vaccine passports for everyday activities such as going to the pub.

He didn't go as far to agree with Matt, but Sir Graham accepted that "if people lose their liberties they tend to lose them through a gradual transfer," which is being seen through the current situation.

"Unless you make sure those powers are cancelled as soon as possible," he warned, "they become entrenched."

"We just need to become very aware," the Conservative MP stressed.

Sir Graham concluded that the implementation of vaccine passports are "very big steps that are open to abuse in the long term, and we should be very careful if we take them."