NICOLA Sturgeon has blasted the UK Government over its “shambolic” plans for air bridges.
The First Minister said that while the Scottish Government was likely to agree to relaxing restrictions for people arriving in Scotland from “low-risk” countries, she would need to carefully scrutinise plans on travellers coming from “medium risk” countries where the prevalence of coronavirus is higher than it is here.
The UK Government revealed that from next Friday people arriving in England from 50 countries including Spain, Italy and France will no longer need to isolate for 14 days.
However, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales have not yet agreed to the proposals, raising the prospect of different quarantines being in place in different parts of the UK.
That could also mean travellers who arrive from abroad at English airports being asked to quarantine if they cross the border into Scotland.
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At her daily coronavirus briefing, Sturgeon said the Scottish Government’s ability to make “difficult and complex” decisions on the issue had been undermined by the shifting position of ministers in London.
She said that the list of countries that Westminster asked Scotland to sign up to on Thursday was different from the list of countries announced yesterday.
The First Minister said: “When so much is at stake, as it is right now, we can’t allow ourselves to be dragged along in the wake of, to be quite frank about it, another government’s shambolic decision process.
“We want to welcome visitors again from around the world and we also want to allow our own citizens to travel.
“We also want, if possible for obvious practical reasons, to have alignment on these matters with the rest of the UK.”
She added: “Just to illustrate the point [on] the shifting sands of the UK Government’s position – the list of countries that they were yesterday demanding that the Scottish Government sign up to, and suggesting we were a barrier to getting an agreement on, is not the same as the list they have shared with us today.”
Sturgeon said she would make a decision on air bridges and what countries will be exempt from quarantine “over the next couple of days”.
She added: “I want travel to be as free as possible, I want there to be as much alignment with the UK as possible”, but she said she is “not prepared to make careless decisions that put at risk the progress against this virus” that has been made.
Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford, made similar comments, saying the last few days had been an “utterly shambolic experience”.
“If ever there was an example of making an announcement first and then trying to work out what you meant by it – that is what we have seen since this announcement was first trailed in the press,” he said.
“And day after day we have attempted to get a sensible answer from the UK Government on how they intend to make these changes, which countries they intend to extend the arrangements to, and I just have to say it’s been an impossible experience to follow.”
Sturgeon’s cautious stance was criticised by some in the travel sector. Derek Provan, chief executive of AGS Airports – which owns Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton airports – said regional variations will endanger livelihoods.
He added: “Having a piecemeal approach will compound the devastating impact the blanket quarantine measures have had on our aviation, tourism and hospitality sectors.
“People are rightly concerned for their health, however, they’re also fearful for their jobs.
“This isn’t just about people being able to go on a summer holiday, it’s about safely re-establishing the routes that drive trade and investment.”
Meanwhile, the Scottish Government has assessed the prevalence of coronavirus in Scotland is currently five times lower than in England.
They also announced that one more person has died after testing positive for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths under that measure to 2488.
A total of 18,276 people have tested positive for the virus in Scotland, up by 12 from 18,264 the previous day.
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