HOLIDAY FLIGHTS FIASCO
Scots STILL in dark over foreign breaks as English sunseekers are cleared for take-off
SCOTS holidaymakers were left grounded by cross-Border rows over air travel yesterday as English sunseekers were cleared for take-off.
Amid continuing confusion over ‘air bridge’ plans, people in
England can fly to a list of foreign destinations approved for quarantine-free travel.
But Nicola Sturgeon yesterday refused to reveal which countries Scots could fly to without facing 14 days in isolation on their return.
The restriction will be removed for arrivals from 59 countries from July 10 – but only when they fly into English airports.
The First Minister said she is looking at the proposals south of the Border and expects to make a decision in the next few days.
But Scots holidaymakers have been left unsure about booking flights for a summer sunshine break. The chaos
has sparked a major row after Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland refused to agree the air bridge proposals because of the UK Government’s approach.
In an extraordinary outburst at her coronavirus briefing yesterday, Miss Sturgeon accused UK ministers of giving officials north of the Border ‘little or no’ notice over key changes to the plans.
She 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.’
Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford told journalists: ‘Dealing with the UK Government over the last few days has been an utterly shambolic experience.’
The UK Government published its list of ‘air bridges’ yesterday, meaning people can travel from England to countries including France, Spain, Germany and Italy without having to quarantine on their return.
Many other popular holiday destinations are included on the list, including Croatia and Turkey, but not countries deemed high-risk such as Portugal and the US.
Long-haul locations such as Australia, Barbados, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand and Vietnam are also included.
Miss Sturgeon said progress has now been made but she has concerns over the inclusion of a number of countries, without naming them. She also said the prevalence of coronavirus is now believed to be five times lower in Scotland than England.
Boris Johnson hit back, claiming: ‘We’ve actually had very good conversations with
‘Travellers being left in a fog of confusion’
all the devolved administrations about this. And I’m sure everybody will work together to make sure people’s holidays to those countries – and it’s a small list of countries we’re going to have the air bridges.’
UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps called for the Scottish Government to ‘get on board’.
But Miss Sturgeon said: ‘We need to take some particular care in our assessment of the list of countries being categorised as medium-risk because that is where there may be some countries that have a higher prevalence of the virus than Scotland does right now.’
The split has led to concerns that quarantine would be impossible to police north of the Border if Scots travel from English airports.
Miss Sturgeon confirmed people flying into England from a country would be asked to quarantine for 14 days if they then drove into Scotland, or face a fine of at least £480. This can rise to £5,000 if the case is taken to court.
She said: ‘If there ends up being a different list of countries that are able to come into England without quarantine from the list the Scottish Government agrees, it will not be the case that somebody can fly into England and come to Scotland without quarantine.’
Despite being repeatedly asked how this would be enforced, Miss Sturgeon failed to explain who would have the job of checking up on those who visit or return to
Scotland. She said: ‘It’s not about Border infrastructure.
‘We have regulations in place right now that have the rules for if you fly into Scotland from a country that requires quarantine, of what you have to do and how that would be enforced.
‘The same rules would apply, the same enforcement structure would be around that. That would be the case if we had a different list of countries in Scotland to England –
I hope we can avoid that.’ Under current curbs, details from travellers on where they have been and their address is collected by UK agency Border Force.
In Scotland, this information is handed to Health Protection Scotland which follows up and carries out spot checks.
Scottish Tory economy spokesman Maurice Golden said: ‘Nicola Sturgeon is all over the place on this when she could just make a decision and let our tourism industry move on. It’s quite clear Scottish businesses and travellers are being left in a fog of expensive confusion when they need clarity.
‘Businesses are adamant, there needs to be a four-nations approach for the sake of businesses, tourists and families.’
Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said he was ‘deeply, deeply angry’ at the lack of information on the air bridge proposals. He said lastminute changes had been made to lists of countries to be included, with officials only informed minutes before meetings.
But a UK Government source said: ‘It looks like Nicola Sturgeon is deliberately delaying a decision in order to play politics on this. That can’t be good for people who are looking to book a holiday or the aviation sector which has been deeply impacted by this.’
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