I’m confused, and not for the first time during this coronavirus pandemic.

Once again, the Government has managed to lose control of its public information messaging – this time over foreign travel.

Think back to May 12 when transport secretary Grant Shapps made his big ‘traffic light’ announcement, placing 12 countries and territories on the so-called green list.

Mr Shapps proudly announced that green countries posed the lowest risk to health, so passengers who had only visited or transited through a green list country would not have to quarantine when they got back to England.

There would be some restrictions for travellers, he said, but all they would need to do was fill in a passenger locator form, provide a valid notification of a negative test result before travelling to England and take a PCR test on day two after arrival.

That’s all nice and simple, isn’t it? Apart from the fact that green list countries Australia, Singapore and New Zealand have closed their borders to foreign travellers.

And good luck getting to South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

But good old Portugal made it on to the green list, causing something of a stampede of British holiday makers looking for two weeks in the sun.

So let’s have a look at the countries on the red list. Again, this is nice and simple if a little draconian.

International visitors who have visited or travelled through any red list country in the previous 10 days will be refused entry into England.

Only British and Irish citizens, or those with residence rights in the UK, will be allowed in and they must stay in a government-approved quarantine facility – at not an inconsiderable personal cost (one adult in one room for 10 days is £1,750). But at least you know where you stand with that.

The problem – and the mixed messaging – comes with countries on the amber list, places such as France, Spain, Italy and Greece, the very countries where we Brits love to go holiday.

Now back on May 12 when the ban on international travel was lifted the messaging emanating from the government seemed to be along the lines of ‘go to an amber country if you want, it’s up to you. But remember, you’re going to have to self-isolate and take two PCR tests when you get back’.

The reality is there seemed to be plenty of people who were prepared to do just that, which maybe wasn’t the reaction the government wanted.

But after months and months of lockdown, the prospect of sunning yourself on a Spanish beach was very tempting for many – especially the retired for whom 10 days of self-isolation isn’t much of a barrier.

In the meantime, the government repeated its usual trick of doing too little too late and as I said in a recent column, allowed the Covid-19 variant in from India.

So had a situation where a new, more transmissible strain of the virus was threatening to run wild, while at exactly the same time, we had tacit permission from the Government to jet off to all those places on the amber list.

That was the cue for Boris Johnson and his pals to frantically start rowing back on the messaging, hence the confusion.

All of a sudden, amber list countries should only be visited in an emergency, which certainly wasn’t that they were saying back at the start.

The problem for the Government, of course, is they let the genie out of the bottle.

There are now absolutely no laws prohibiting anyone from travelling to an amber list country.

Just have a look at how many Ryanair and Easyjet flights are leaving Manchester and Liverpool to the likes of Palma, Barcelona and Malaga.

Of course, Spain ramped up the pressure this week when it opened up its borders to visitors from the UK.

And what’s more, the Spanish removed all health restrictions for Brits.

So this means you don’t need to have a PCR test certificate before flying and you don’t even have to prove you have had your vaccinations.

But the Government does have a sneaky trick up its sleeve in a bid to stop us jetting off – the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.

The FCDO is the official source of travel advice and is currently advising against all but essential travel to amber list countries.

And this is important because travelling against FCDO advice is almost certain to invalidate your travel insurance.

So as The Clash sang: ‘Should I stay or should I go?’. This isn’t a rhetorical question on my part.

My two weeks away in Mallorca next month are hanging in the balance.