THE Home Secretary will make a statement on health measures at the border this afternoon after days of speculation around 'quarantine hotels' for travellers.

Home Secretary Priti Patel will set out further steps to the Commons at around 2.25pm today, January 27, to ensure there is “less flow of individuals” into England to control new strains of coronavirus, Robert Jenrick confirmed.

He told Sky News: “The Prime Minister has said we do want to go further and the Home Secretary will be making a statement in Parliament later today about further steps we are going to take in this country to ensure that there is less flow of individuals in.”

It comes as the Government is due to reveal whether it will impose stricter border measures to protect the country against the spread of new coronavirus variants.

It has been widely reported that this could include the introduction of quarantine hotels where travellers arriving to England will need to self-isolate for a period of time.

An official announcement is yet to be made.

The move is designed to protect the country against new coronavirus variants arriving from overseas – but these are said to be softer than Ms Patel had hoped, with The Times reporting she had pushed for a temporary closure of the UK’s borders, but was overruled by Boris Johnson.

There was no official comment following the meeting of the Covid operations committee of senior ministers on Tuesday, but Whitehall sources ahead of the talks suggested the measures could stop short of mandatory hotel quarantines for all arrivals.

They suggested that the rules may only apply to British nationals returning to England from high-risk nations, with passengers expected to cover the price of quarantining.

The Times reported that the committee rejected calls for a full border closure and will instead limit it to those returning from 30 countries already covered by the travel ban, including those in South America, Portugal and Cape Verde, as well as South Africa and neighbouring nations.

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth criticised the Government for failing to impose strict measures at the borders soon enough.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Mr Ashworth said: “We should have had comprehensive border controls in for the past year

“Priti Patel and Boris Johnson, they tell us they want to take control of their borders, but the one time it actually mattered, and they needed to take control of our borders to protect us, they failed.

“I would urge the Government to look at a comprehensive policy, not just the hotspots, because remember, there will be areas or countries across the world where there are mutations which haven’t been identified yet because they don’t have the same level of scientific ability.”

Yesterday, the Home Secretary urged those who should not be travelling to stay at home.

Labour former minister Dame Angela Eagle asked: “Given that the Isolation Assurance Service currently does not check the vast majority of those required to isolate, how can the Home Secretary assure us that enforcement of these new rules will be adequate and that they not be more honoured in the breach than in the observance?”

Priti Patel told the Commons: “Border Force – if I may give the right honourable lady reassurance – are now fulfilling 100% compliance checks.

“We have airport staff too that… they are working within terms of bringing those checks in, working with airports and ports about queues and managing flows coming in. These are important measures but it does come back to the need for compliance which is why I urge everyone again who should not be travelling to please stay at home.”

Conservative former minister Stephen Crabb asked how hauliers would be supported under any increased border measures.

Responding, Ms Patel said: “The role of hauliers, goods, freight, medical supplies as well have been at the forefront of all our actions when it comes to keeping goods flowing and if I may just point my right honourable friend to the work that he will have seen at our ports like Dover with testing measures, these are important measures that do exactly that, they help to keep goods moving.”

Meanwhile, airline bosses are demanding that the Government provides an “urgent road map for the reopening of air travel”.

The chief executives of British Airways, easyJet and Virgin Atlantic were among those to sign a joint letter ahead of an expected announcement confirming the introduction of quarantine hotels for arriving travellers.

They warned that requiring passengers to pay to self-isolate in hotels will have a “dramatic impact” on airlines and the wider UK economy.