Malta’s Foreign Minister said the UK took a “political decision” to prevent British tourists from holidaying abroad this year and the Maltese government could not be blamed for the island missing the British green list.

Evarist Bartolo said the UK government chose not to follow scientific advice from its Joint Biosecurity Centre which had approved travel to Malta.

He was reacting to PN leader Bernard Grech’s statement that the government could have worked harder to get Malta on the green list.

Bartolo rubbished this statement, pointing out that Malta yesterday registered zero COVID-19 cases and had among the highest vaccination rates in the world, with 74% of the population vaccinated with one dose and 51% being fully vaccinated.

In a Facebook post, Bartolo said the British government was concerned about “the Indian variant” which is infecting three quarters of those with COVID-19 in the UK.

“That’s why the English government did not open travel to Malta as it could have according to the Joint Biosecurity Centre that is giving scientific advice about what the government should do to battle Covid.”

“It took a political decision to not open travel anywhere despite the pressures from airlines, tourism operators and citizens to open… The problem is not us,” he said.

The Minister said by blaming the government for this decision, the PN was showing there was no alternative to government.

Putting Malta on the green list would allow British citizens to return to the UK without needing to quarantine.

Do you think Malta could have done anything to get on the UK’s green list?