Grant Shapps orders firms to slash cost of foreign travel testing

Grant Shapps has ordered ‘profiteering’ private testing companies to slash the cost of laboratory-based PCR checks to make international travel more affordable as he said people can now ‘start to think’ about booking a summer holiday abroad.  The Transport Secretary today set out more details of the Government’s new traffic light scheme which will see … Read more

Piers Morgan quits GMB: Grant Shapps says he will ‘miss’ host after Meghan Markle row

Grant Shapps says he will ‘miss’ Piers Morgan but dodges questions over Harry and Meghan as he insists mental health is ‘very important indeed’ Grant Shapps said ‘I will miss him’ when asked about Piers Morgan leaving GMB But Transport Secretary dodged questions over the Harry and Meghan interview Cited ‘long-standing’ convention that ministers do … Read more

Shapps hints costs of foreign flights could rise to cut levy on domestic trips

Grant Shapps today hailed plans to cut Air Passenger Duty for domestic flights – but hinted that foreign travel costs might have to rise as a result. The Transport Secretary said the current system where return journeys within the UK could face a higher levy than trips abroad was ‘bizarre’. In a round of broadcast … Read more

Son of woman who was killed on a smart motorway pens letter to Grant Shapps asking to scrap scheme 

Son of woman who was killed on a smart motorway pens letter to Grant Shapps pleading with him to scrap the ‘death trap’ scheme The fiery letter says Grant Shapps will be held responsible for future deaths Niaz Shazad’s mother died on the M1 in 2018 after she was struck by a lorry The letter … Read more

Airlines will NOT lose take-off and landing slots at UK airports, says Grant Shapps

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has told airlines they will not lose their take-off and landing slots at UK airports even if they continue to operate fewer flights than normal over summer. Airlines are usually required to use 80 per cent of slots at oversubscribed airports or risk them being taken away the following year. Previously, … Read more

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, 52, becomes first Cabinet minister to receive coronavirus vaccine

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, 52, becomes first Cabinet minister to receive coronavirus vaccine – revealing he was eligible due to ‘cancer treatment 20 years ago’ The Transport Secretary received the Pfizer jab at University of Hertfordshire  Cancer treatment in the late 1990s meant the 52-year-old was contacted by GP  He also filmed a video thanking … Read more

Grant Shapps says vaccine passports COULD happen after US talks – despite No10 ruling them out

Grant Shapps revealed today he has had talks with foreign politicians about an  ‘internationally recognised system’ of allowing travellers to prove they have had a Covid jab. The Transport Secretary made the admission despite Downing Street insisting for weeks that it has no plans to introduce ‘vaccine passports’ that would prove the holder’s coronanvirus immunity.  … Read more

We are stuck with smart motorways, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps admits 

Grant Shapps has ruled out scrapping so-called ‘smart motorways’, while admitting their name was a ‘misnomer’. The Transport Secretary said yesterday that he ‘wouldn’t have gone about it like this’ were he in charge when they were launched and said mistakes were made in their roll-out which initially made them less safe. But he told … Read more

Grant Shapps pushes plan for driverless cars 

Britons could be the first drivers allowed to take their hands off the wheel on motorways to watch films, send texts or check emails as Grant Shapps pushes plan for driverless cars New lanekeeping technology introduced was introduced to Britain on Friday Introduction is stage three of five needed to see self-driving cars on the road   Grant … Read more

Smart motorway showdown with Transport Secretary Grant Shapps looms for Highways England

Crisis talks over smart motorways: Showdown with Transport Secretary Grant Shapps looms as it emerges road chiefs were told of risks in 2011 Grant Shapps thought to be unimpressed with Highways England over scheme It comes after a coroner labelled the motorways ‘ongoing risk of future deaths’ Talks with Highways England’s acting chief executive, Nick Harris, … Read more