BORIS Johnson was branded “absurd” yesterday after he said there was “no such thing as a border between England and Scotland.”
The Prime Minister’s claim came after Nicola Sturgeon said she would if necessary bring in a quarantine for people entering Scotland from other parts of the UK, if that was the recommendation of her scientific advisors.
Yesterday, she urged the Prime Minister and his government should be concentrating “with an absolute laser-like focus” on tackling the coronavirus.
At Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday, Johnson was asked about the First Minister’s border comments by Tory MP Andrew Bowie.
He said the Scottish tourism sector was “having the legs pulled out from under it by deeply irresponsible, damaging and divisive talk of arbitrary border closures and the quarantining of visitors from across the rest of the United Kingdom”.
Johnson said he found the suggestion “absolutely astonishing and shameful”.
READ MORE: Here's why Johnson's wrong in Scotland-England Border claims
He added: “There have been no such discussions with the Scottish administration about that but I would point out to the honourable gentleman what he knows very well – there is no such thing as a border between England and Scotland.”
Earlier in the day, the Scottish Secretary Alister Jack accused the First Minister of being “divisive” for even countenancing some form of quarantine.
Speaking before it was revealed that there was a cluster of coronavirus cases in his Dumfries and Galloway constituency, Jack told MPs: “What’s deeply regrettable is that the First Minister has encouraged reckless talk.
“This talk of quarantining people from other parts of the United Kingdom is disappointing, it’s divisive.
“It’s not the language which we should be hearing from our First Minister because it undermines the joint efforts that we’ve had in tackling Covid-19 and it’s bad for business and it’s especially bad for the tourism business.”
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon: Tory Scottish Border claims are absurd
Asked about Johnson’s border comment at the Scottish Government’s daily coronavirus briefing, Sturgeon said it was “such an absurd statement”.
She added: “What there definitely is, is a geographical boundary to my powers as First Minister.
“If the Prime Minister is questioning that now, I’m not sure what he would say if I pitched up in Newcastle and started to try to implement Scottish Government policies in Newcastle. And see what I’ve just said there? It’s absurd too, which is why we shouldn’t be having these discussions.
“We should all be focusing with an absolute laser-like focus on what we need to do within our own responsibilities and working together when necessary to stop a virus.”
On the possibility of people having to quarantine after entering Scotland, Sturgeon said there are no such proposals at the moment, but added: “Given the nature of what we’re dealing with right now – just to remind the Prime Minister: an infectious virus – I would not be doing my job properly if I ruled things out that, as we see from countries around the world are being used selectively in appropriate circumstances to try to contain a virus.
“If I’m looking at the data and the evidence and I’m seeing that there’s a risk to Scotland of infection coming in from other parts of the UK and I think that there needs to be measures taken to contain that, then I will discuss that with other administrations as appropriate.”
Sturgeon said her one objective during the pandemic is “trying to stop this virus getting out of control”.
She said: “That’s all that drives this decision-making process right now, and I really do say to people – whether it’s the leader of the Scottish Tories, the Secretary of State or even the Prime Minister, who I have been at pains not to criticise over this – if you find yourself trying to turn any of this into a political or a constitutional argument, go and take a long hard look at yourself in a mirror.”
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