London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Jul 10, 2025

Jeremy Hunt wants mass testing & health passports in the UK. Critics accuse him of promoting ‘ENSLAVEMENT PASSES’

Jeremy Hunt wants mass testing & health passports in the UK. Critics accuse him of promoting ‘ENSLAVEMENT PASSES’

Former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt wants Brits to take a monthly coronavirus test, with a negative result earning them “freedom passes.” His idea angered some commenters, who called it “Orwellian.”

Writing in The Times on Friday, Hunt described an effective vaccine as Britain’s best shot at returning to normal life. However, the Conservative MP said that the country needs a “plan B” in the form of monthly tests for the whole population, with the freedom to live a normal life awarded only to those who show negative results.

Hunt suggested “offering people who comply with testing and isolation requirements a ‘freedom pass’ that removes the requirement to follow lockdown regulations.” Slovakia rolled out a similar system less than a month earlier, with those testing negative earning a certificate exempting them from curfew.

Though Hunt described the passes as an incentive to boost the uptake in testing, normal life would be quite impossible without one. In his own words, these passes should be required by people who want “to go out, shop and go to work.”

The idea didn’t go down well on Twitter, with commenters accusing the Surrey MP of using “Orwellian doublespeak” to promote“fascism.”“It’s not a ‘freedom pass,’” one wrote, “it’s an ‘enslavement pass.’”


 


Hunt also suggested that the government should use the NHS Covid app “to record who has been tested and who has received the vaccine.” The MP has long been a proponent of using methods that critics call “mass surveillance” to stop the spread of Covid-19. In August, he backed a report by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change calling for the introduction of a “health passport that would provide evidence of an individual’s Covid-19 status at any given time.”

The idea of a health passport has found a receptive audience in Parliament, as the Daily Telegraph reported this week that officials want some kind of “digital immunity certificate” for those who receive a jab granting them access to concerts, football matches, and other events. Government advisers have also floated the idea of giving paper wristbands to people who have been tested, so they could “get back some freedoms if they test negative.”

Hunt’s proposal asks a lot of government. Ensuring that every Brit could get tested once per month would take half a million staff and 65,000 testing centres, he says. The UK currently conducts nearly 400,000 tests per day at hospitals and drive-in testing centres.

With vaccines still awaiting regulatory approval in the UK, Hunt argued that it would be possible with mass testing – and the ensuing licensing of freedom – to “return to some kind of normality” by Easter 2021.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
NVIDIA Achieves Historic Milestone as First Company Valued at $4 Trillion
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Linda Yaccarino Steps Down as CEO of X After Two Years
US Imposes New Tariffs on Brazilian Exports Amid Political Tensions
Azerbaijan and Armenia are on the brink of a historic peace deal.
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Weinstein Victim’s Lawyer Says MeToo Movement Still Strong
U.S. Enacts Sweeping Tax and Spending Legislation Amid Trade Policy Shifts
Football Mourns as Diogo Jota and Brother André Silva Laid to Rest in Portugal
Labour Expected to Withdraw Support for Special Needs Funding Model
Leaked Audio Reveals Tory Aide Defending DEI Record
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
London Stock Exchange Faces Historic Low in Initial Public Offerings
A new online platform has emerged in the United Kingdom, specifically targeting Muslim men seeking virgin brides
Trump Celebrates Independence Day with B-2 Flyover and Signs Controversial Legislation
Boris Johnson Urges Conservatives to Ignore Farage
SNP Ordered to Update Single-Sex Space Guidance Within Days
Starmer Set to Reject Calls for Wealth Taxes
Stolen Century-Old Rolls-Royce Recovered After Hotel Theft
Macron Presses Starmer to Recognise Palestinian State
Labour Delayed Palestine Action Ban Over Riot Concerns
Swinney’s Tax Comments ‘Offensive to Scots’, Say Tories
High Street Retailers to Enforce Bans on Serial Shoplifters
Music Banned by Henry VIII to Be Performed After 500 Years
Steve Coogan Says Working Class Is Being ‘Ethnically Cleansed’
Home Office Admits Uncertainty Over Visa Overstayer Numbers
JD Vance Questions Mandelson Over Reform Party’s Rising Popularity
Macron to Receive Windsor Carriage Ride in Royal Gesture
Labour Accused of ‘Hammering’ Scots During First Year in Power
BBC Head of Music Stood Down Amid Bob Vylan Controversy
Corbyn Eyes Hard-Left Challenge to Starmer’s Leadership
London Tube Trains Suspended After Major Fire Erupts Nearby
Richard Kemp: I Felt Safer in Israel Under Attack Than in the UK
Cyclist Says Police Cited Human Rights Act for Riding No-Handed
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Musk Battles to Protect Tesla Amid Trump Policy Threats
Air France-KLM Acquires Majority Stake in Scandinavian Airlines
UK Educators Sound Alarm on Declining Child Literacy
Shein Fined €40 Million in France Over Misleading Discounts
Brazil’s Lula Visits Kirchner During Argentina House Arrest
Trump Scores Legislative Win as House Passes Tax Reform Bill
Keir Starmer Faces Criticism After Rocky First Year in Power
DJI Launches Heavy-Duty Coaxial Quadcopter with 80 kg Lift Capacity
U.S. Senate Approves Major Legislation Dubbed the 'Big Beautiful Bill'
Largest Healthcare Fraud Takedown in U.S. History Announced by DOJ
×