A flight shambles: With hours to go, Scotland’s busiest airport reveals Covid quarantine plan is in chaos
MSPS urge radical overhaul of troubled prosecution service
The plans for compulsor y quarantine for air passengers arriving in Scotland from tomorrow are a shambles, according to the country’s busiest airport.
Sources at Edinburgh Airport say the situation is confused and chaotic while bosses have written to the First
Minister to raise urgent concerns. All international arrivals to Scotland will now be taken from airports to hotels for 10- days in self- isolation. However, a spokesman at Edinburgh Airport said managers were working in the dark while staff were racing against time to get workable systems in place: “We have spent the past few days trying to make the Scottish Government’s suggestions fit for purpose.”
Quarantine plans for passengers arriving in Scotland and due to start tomorrow are a shambles, according to sources at the country’s busiest airport.
Edinburgh Airport bosses have written to the Scottish Government to raise urgent concerns about the managed quarantine policy, which comes into force tomorrow.
Senior sources at the airport yesterday said the situation was “shambolic”, while a spokesman said: “We have spent the past few days trying to make the Scottish Government’s suggestions fit for purpose in an airport environment as no policy was presented to us and the initial discussions were lacking in basic detail and knowledge of our operations. This is exactly why we wanted to be engaged far earlier in the process rather than being in a race against time.”
All international arrivals to Scotland are expected to book a £ 1,750 10- day self- isolation stay through the UK Government’s online portal prior to departure. In England the rules will only apply to people travelling from 33 “red list” countries.
Edinburgh Airport, which emailed Nicola Sturgeon about their concerns on Friday, admitted last night there is no detail on how international travellers who arrive on a connecting domestic flight from England or the Republic of Ireland will be picked up.
The airport spokesman said there were a series of concerns about how the system would work when launched at 4am tomorrow, adding: “We are hours away from this policy going live and still the Scottish Government is changing its mind on a key issue around arrivals from Ireland and the need for quarantine, with connecting passengers from amber countries potentially able to avoid managed isolation altogether.
“This uncertainty does not inspire confidence for airports and we understand airlines have yet to be fully briefed, which makes it likely some passengers will be completely unaware of this new requirement.
“We have written to the first minister to once again offer our support but primarily raise our concerns about this whole approach which does not feel adequate.”
The airport said private security staff hired by the government have not yet been issued with airside passes so workers will instead have to escort potentially infectious travellers. A Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul is the first to touch down at Edinburgh tomorrow when passengers will be expected to be taken to a hotel to quarantine.
The UK Government’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme on Thursday that passengers arriving in England from “low risk” countries would be required to quarantine at home – even if their home was in Scotland – rather than face hotel quarantine. In the last two weeks 2,330 international travellers arrived at Scotland’s airports with Edinburgh Airport expecting eight international flights this week, including planes from Qatar, Turkey and France.
Last week Transport Secretary Michael Matheson said the Scottish and UK governments are working together on quarantine plans.
He said the Scottish Government was “engaging with the UK and Welsh Governments and the Northern Ireland Executive to agree
a joint approach to contracting the transport and accommodation services required for managed isolation. That will involve a common approach to the procurement of hotels and related services, initially in England and Scotland, based on a UK Government contract.”
However the Scottish Government last night told The Post the UK Government was “leading” on this.
Penalties for avoiding hotel quarantine range from a fine of up to £10,000 to a 10-year jail sentence.
But Lucy Moreton, professional
officer at the Immigration Services Union, which represents border staff, said it is unclear how it will be enforced. She said: “Once we’re satisfied that they qualify for entry, the only provision we’ve got is the Coronavirus Act, which requires that you obey a reasonable instruction from a border officer. But what happens if they leg it? Are we supposed to chase?”
Police Scotland also ruled out checks on travellers at the border with England amid fears some may attempt to avoid hotel quarantine by flying into England.
The Crown Office is in crisis and there are questions over the judiciary, too – David Whitehouse
Prosecutors are reluctant to take on potentially high- profile cases as the fallout from the Rangers scandal continues, it has been claimed.
The country’s most senior law officer, Lord Advocate James Wolffe, last week publicly apologised to two men maliciously prosecuted, and subsequently awarded £ 24 million in damages and legal fees, over a case related to the deal to buy Rangers from administration.
Compensation and costs in related cases could cost taxpayers up to £ 100m, with the bill being covered by the Scottish Government reallocating resource that may have been designated for health, education or infrastructure projects. A judicial inquiry has been promised into the scandal.
Meanwhile, the Crown’s role in controversial decisions surrounding the provision of material to the Holyrood inquiry into the handling of harassment claims against Alex Salmond has also been questioned.
One source familiar with the working of the Crown Office said morale had suffered while lawyers were increasingly cautious: “There is an increasing reluctance to become involved in big cases with potential for controversy. In normal circumstances they would be seen as the kind of cases that would make your career. Now they seem more likely to break your career.
“Inquiries into the Rangers case will go on for years and anyone involved in it is thinking carefully about what they signed and what meetings they attended. There is now a similar feeling about the ongoing attention from the Salmond inquiry.
“Everyone is being very careful about what they sign and what they sign- off and ensuring their bosses are fully aware. Everyone is being copied into everything.”
The Crown Office also faces a mountainous backlog of cases. We revealed more than 10,000 were waiting for a decision last year, even before the pandemic began.
Leading criminal defence lawyer Aamer Anwar said: “It’s my understanding that morale within the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is at rock bottom. Many are angry that, in time, anything like £100m could be paid out alone over the Rangers matter.
“We have seen time and again cases disappearing into what we refer to as Crown Office’s black hole for years on end, with absolutely no accountability. Staff are demoralised and are concerned the payouts will impact on their ability to prosecute crime, and at the possibility of similar disastrous decisions in future as cuts are enforced. They are already under pressure and cannot believe what’s happening now.”
One senior legal source said: “For cases like the Rangers investigation, decision- makers and big brains are needed. Instead, the Crown Office seems to lack the required capability. It’s not a slur, it’s just the expertise required for this type of financial analysis either wasn’t there or was insufficient.”
Scottish Conservative leader
An insolvency expert maliciously prosecuted by the Crown Office has accused former Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland of “pouring petrol on the flames” after he broke his silence on the case. David Whitehouse was awarded more than £10 million in damages after being locked in a cell for six days and wrongly pursued by authorities for months over the deal to buy Rangers from administration in 2012. Current Lord Advocate James Wolffe last year admitted the prosecution of Mr Whitehouse and Duff and Phelps colleague Paul Clark was wrongful and malicious and addressed parliament last week over the cases. MSPS heavily criticised Mr Wolffe’s predecessor, Frank Mulholland, now a High Court judge, over how the prosecution was pursued, but Lord Mulholland responded the claims were “false and scandalous” and that he had been the victim of an “unfounded personal attack”.
Speaking to The Sunday Post, Mr Whitehouse described the exchanges as “extraordinary”, saying: “We have seen MSPS accuse the former Lord Advocate, the former Lord Advocate making counter claims, and the current Lord Advocate acknowledging everything needs to be before a public inquiry – but that can’t happen until he deals with civil litigation accusing his organisation of negligence.
“The danger is the whole thing spirals out of control. It is totally unedifying and Scotland’s justice system is spiralling further into disrepute. Someone, somewhere, needs to get a grip and sort it out.
“The Crown Office is in crisis and there are questions over the judiciary also, given that Lord Mulholland has broken ranks and given statements on the matter. I thought James Wolffe made a fair attempt at admitting something went very wrong and then Lord Mulholland poured a gallon of petrol on the flames.
“My experience was that the Crown Office was ill-equipped to prosecute allegations of serious economic crimes.”
A spokeswoman for the Judicial Office said Lord President, Lord Carloway, Scotland’s most senior judge, had “no comment to make” over Lord Mulholland’s remarks.