Britain's opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer has expressed scepticism about the use of so-called vaccine passports to allow people to access hospitality and entertainment venues, saying the “British instinct” could be against such documents.

Starmer said he would not make any formal decision on whether to support the initiative before studying government proposals but indicated there could be opposition to the idea from the public if death rates are near zero and hospital admissions are very low.

“I think this is really difficult and I'm not going to pretend there's a clear black and white, yes-no easy answer on this,” Starmer told the Daily Telegraph.