They already have lol.

Check the costs of approved tests once back in UK

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/provider...ional-arrivals

well me for one... but I've had to go through the enhanced identification process that will now require manual verification - says 7 days in the app but warns that they are very busy right now. Yes I bet they are :D

I booked flights to Madeira at 16:59 as I was expecting stupid price increase. My expectation was right.

Is anyone else shocked Malta didn’t make the green list? It has a high vaccination rate (per 100 people) than the UK, low cases and is an island! BA only added extra flights to Malta the other day too.

If you travel to a green list rcountry ahead of 17 May with a legally permitted reason for travel, can you return on/after 17 May as a green arrival, even though you were in that country before 17 May? Is it clear that it is only the date of return (inbound) travel that counts?

Yes. It is the date of arrival in England that is relevant.

With all previous changes it is always based on the status when you arrive. So to answer your a question, yes my expectation is if you arrive from one of the green list countries in or after 17 May you will be treated as a green arrival regardless of when you left the Uk.

Having looked at the new regs, as of the 17th of May, unclear as per what would be the case for flying via LHR from an (amber) country, connecting (2 hours in LHR) and heading overseas? Would a simple transit in the UK be subject to any regs, depending on country of departure origin?

I find lack of Malta weird

Next step, replace the need for two covid tests! its £400/500 for two people to get a test before flying back and a test in the UK.

Passenger locator form and pre-arrival test - basically same as transits now.

I'm not getting the confidence people have in booking Portugal. Portugal still has an entry ban for non-essential travel - that doesn't change just because the UK moves them on a green list.

Can’t see that lasting long given that for the next month it’s more or less the only place where Brits can spend their £££s abroad.

Technically speaking you are correct - and as we often say here, that's the best sort of correct. But Portugal is going to announce "shortly" the rules that will apply from 16 May, the day before the England changes, and given the EU's recommendation earlier this week, there seems highly likely that they will "White List" the UK from that date. In the past they have announced changes with near immediate applicability so we may need to wait another week. But the Portuguese government will probably hint if there is an issue with this.

Funchal and Porto Santo is already OK for UK tourists, under their devolved government.

I hope your impressive track record of being right will extend to this one as well.

If you look at current case rates in Europe then Malta (and Finland) are just above the cut off point. If things continue as they are they must be favourites for the next green list in a few weeks.

Judging purely by case rates the biggest omission in Europe from today's list in my opinion is Albania. The current infection rate there is below the UK and Portugal but they have a lower vaccination rate so that's probably why they've been left out.
San Marino also has a low case rate but as you can't get there without going through Italy it makes sense that's not on the green list.