COVID minister Nadhim Zahawi has suggested some venues such as pubs and restaurants may refuse people entry unless they have had the Covid-19 vaccine.

Speaking in his first interview since becoming Minister for Covid vaccine deployment, Mr Zahawi said that while the vaccine will be voluntary, some venues may not choose to require people to prove they have been vaccinated before being allowed entry.

However this morning, Government colleague Michael Gove said there were "no plans" for a so called 'vaccine passport'.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4 last night, Mr Zahawi said: "It is right that the vaccine is voluntary.

"But the very strong message that you will see, this is the way we return the whole country to normal, and so it's good for your family, it's good for your community, it's good for your country.

"You'll probably find restaurants and bars and cinemas and other venues – sports venues – will probably also use that system as they've done with the [Test and Trace] app.

"The reason the app has been so successful is because a lot of places that you would go to, they've got the QR code from the NHS that you scan for your own safety."

He then suggested that some venues may say to visitors: "Look, demonstrate to us that you have been vaccinated."

Mr Zahawi also said that the Government was "looking at the technology" so people could show that they had a Covid-19 vaccine.

Speaking this morning, when asked if there would be a vaccine passport, the Chancellor for the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove said: "No, that's not being planned.

"I certainly am not planning to introduce any vaccine passports and I don't know anyone else in Government...

"I think the most important thing to do is make sure that we vaccinate as many people as possible.

"What we want to do is to make sure that we can get vaccines effectively rolled out.
"Of course, individual businesses have the capacity to make decisions about who they will admit and why.

"But the most important thing that we should be doing at this stage is concentrating on making sure the vaccine is rolled out."