Lord Lloyd Webber: Vaccine passports are a small price to pay to avoid more lockdowns

19 November 2021, 10:00 | Updated: 19 November 2021, 15:10

Lord Lloyd Webber explains why he supports vaccine passports

Vaccine passports are a "small price to pay" to avoid more lockdowns, Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber has told LBC.

Speaking exclusively to Nick Ferrari at Breakfast, Lord Lloyd Webber said people are "determined" to go out and enjoy themselves following months trapped inside due to Covid lockdowns.

It comes as the Scottish Government is considering expanding the scheme to cinemas and other hospitality venues, such as theatres, with a final decision due on Tuesday.

Lord Lloyd Webber, who was asked by Nick what he thought of the news, said it is a "small price to pay".

Watch: Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber joins Nick Ferrari | 19/11

"I've just got back from America, I've been in New York, where you can't buy a cup of coffee unless you are double vaccinated, you can't go into any building unless you bring proof of double vaccination, you can't go to the theatre without proof of double vaccination and you have to wear a mask all the way through," he explained.

"People are determined to go out, as I say you can't even buy a cup of coffee, you certainly couldn't go and sit down in a restaurant without proof of double vaccination.

"And it strikes me that if that's what we have to do it's a pretty low price to pay."

Lord Lloyd Webber pledges theatres are safer than outside

He said broadway is doing "extremely well" in the wake of the virus, but it not quite back to pre-pandemic figures.

"Everybody lives with it and everybody just gets on with their lives," said Lord Lloyd Webber of his time in New York.

"People accept that as the normal."

Asked whether we should have similar restrictions here in the UK, Lord Lloyd Webber said we cannot have another lockdown.

He told Nick: "I think if it gets really bad here then that's the obvious thing to do, as we can't go through another lockdown again."