Sturgeon urged to ditch harsh quarantine plan as open English land border 'means it is pointless'

Nicola Sturgeon has been urged to ditch her plan to force all international travellers into Scotland to stay in quarantine hotels after experts warned it would be pointless if the land border with England remains open.

The First Minister on Thursday insisted she would press ahead with proposals to require all people arriving from outside the Common Travel Area to spend 10 nights under state supervision in a hotel, rather than just those coming in from 33 “red list” countries, as is the case in England from Monday.

However, she was warned that her policy made no sense due to a gaping loophole that means people could arrive into English airports from non-red list countries and then travel to Scotland by road or rail to isolate at home. This would allow travellers to avoid the need to spend £1,750 being confined to a hotel room under state supervision.

The SNP Government had said it wants the UK Government to agree to identify Scottish residents flying into English airports and then force them to isolate in hotels south of the border. However, no deal has been struck and Matt Hancock, the UK Health Secretary, said a Scot arriving into Heathrow from a non-red list country could simply go home and isolate there.

Professor Hugh Pennington, emeritus professor of bacteriology at the University of Aberdeen, was an early advocate of quarantine hotels, which have proven successful in countries such as Australia and New Zealand.

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However, he said Scotland adopting a blanket policy on its own would be “daft” given there was a 96-mile open border with England which would have far less draconian rules.

“There is an obvious loophole and it’s very difficult to close,” Prof Pennington said. “You can’t have border guards at Gretna, it would just be impossible to do administratively.

“If there’s a policy and they haven’t worked out the details, then it’s a daft policy. I think they will just have to live with the English system - there are hardly any international flights arriving into Scotland now anyway.

“In Australia and New Zealand they don’t have different policies internally about this. We’re one island, so you really have to have the same policy for England, Scotland and Wales.”

He added: “It’s up to the Scottish Government, if they want to do things differently, to persuade the UK Government to come along with them. You can have a different policy for Orkney, Shetland, the Western Isles, but England, Scotland and Wales really should have a uniform policy.”

Ms Sturgeon insisted she would retain her tougher quarantine rules even if an agreement with the UK Government was not reached by Monday, when the rules are due to come into force.

However, she admitted Scotland would have “more of a back door vulnerability” if divergent regimes remain in place.

Ms Sturgeon said that she could be “asking the police to do more than they are doing right now in terms of the checks coming into the country” from next week

She refused to expand on the specific role the police would play or comment on whether this could mean enforcement of a hard border where all passing motorists were checked. Her ministers have previously refused to rule out border checks.

“We haven't taken those decisions,” Ms Sturgeon said. “So I would just be speculating. And secondly, actually, enforcement would be a matter for the police.”

Mr Hancock ruled out extending a requirement to quarantine in hotels to all UK travellers, and appeared to reject the SNP call to put a system in place that would ensure Scottish residents arriving into English airports had to follow Ms Sturgeon’s rules and isolate in a hotel.

Asked what would happen if someone who lived in Edinburgh arrived into London Heathrow from Madrid, with Spain not on the UK red list, Mr Hancock said they should go home and quarantine there.

“It’s about having a proportionate approach,” Mr Hancock said. “For everybody arriving in the UK, there is a robust system in place. Whether that’s in a hotel or at home, you have to quarantine for 10 days. That’s the approach we’re taking.

“If you require a hotel quarantine for people coming from anywhere, that includes countries where there aren’t any cases.”

A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: “We have maximised our visibility in communities and on roads across Scotland, including the border area to provide reassurance, deter anyone who might be considering breaching coronavirus regulations and, where necessary, enforce the law.

“We will continue to work with the Scottish Government to support the collective effort to combat the spread of coronavirus.

“At this time there are no plans to establish road checks anywhere across Scotland simply to enforce coronavirus regulations.”

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