Fife Tory councillor’s vow to snub travel advice is branded ‘a rant’

A Fife Conservative councillor has come under fire after stating she would snub Holyrood advice on travel during the pandemic.

The row erupted after Kathleen Leslie, a councillor for Burntisland, Kinghorn and Western Kirkcaldy, took to Twitter to voice her agreement with fellow Conservative Gail Macgregor, a councillor in Dumfries and Galloway.

On the issue of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plans for air bridges, which would allow holidaymakers to travel to certain countries without having to quarantine for 14 days on their return, Ms Macgregor raised the issue of how this would be policed if Scotland was not included in the scheme, adding that she would take her travel advice from Westminster.

Ms Leslie said on Twitter: “Well said. I will do exactly the same. The United Kingdom is one country and my holiday decisions will be based on information from the UK Government.”

She later told The Courier: “Foreign travel, air transport and immigration are all reserved matters, as I believe the first minister herself noted during the discussion surrounding the imposition of the 14-day quarantine period for travellers arriving to the UK.”

Fife Council’s SNP coleader David Alexander said her comments were “potentially damaging “to efforts to contain the virus, adding: “Most people seem to have bought into this but in the background we have Conservative politicians trying their utmost to politicise anything the Scottish Government do if there is a deviation from what the Westminster Government do.

“This rant where elected Tory councillors are advocating breaking the rules in Scotland is not only politically pathetic but potentially damaging.”