A minister has not explicitly ruled out the prospect of the government requiring vaccine passports for people to go to pubs.

Business minister Paul Scully told Kay Burley that ministers are “not saying crowded pubs at all” in addition to plans to require people to prove their COVID-19 vaccine status to enter nightclubs and other crowded venues from September.

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But in the same answer he went on to say that “we’re not ruling anything out”, before adding: “We’re saying nightclubs and also larger ticketed events as well.”

When it was put to him that some pubs can be as crowded as nightclubs, Mr Scully said the government has to “work on the definition” of what will be covered by vaccine passports.

He said: “We’ve got to define it really carefully and we’ll do that in the coming months until we get there.”

Mr Scully added that “a number of” sporting venues are already looking at requiring vaccine passports for entry.

He said the measure was not being introduced immediately because ministers have “got to get the detail right”.

Mr Scully denied it was effectively a “bribe” to younger people to get them vaccinated, stressing the move was about stopping the NHS being “overwhelmed”.

“This is the right thing to do to make sure that we get on top of the transmission of cases,” he said.