Plans to quarantine international visitors to Britain sends out a message the UK is closed for business.

Industry leaders warn the Government’s blanket ban on arrivals could harm the country’s economic recovery.

In a letter to ministers, the London Chamber of Commerce (LCC) questions the decision.

Richard Burge, LCC Chief Executive, said:

“Domestically, the Government’s roadmap to restarting the economy is correctly centred on a risk-based approach.

“Yet this blanket aviation proposal doesn’t appear to be risk-based.

“If it was, it would recognise that arrivals from some countries with much lower transmission levels than the UK and low incidence of the disease would not increase our risk, provided they adopted our social distancing protocols on arrival.

“The proposal sends out the message that the UK is closed for business, at a time when we are beginning to restart our economy.”

The LLC stands for more than 2,000 London based companies.