Westminster’s handling of air bridge plan ‘shambolic’,
Nicola Sturgeon acknowledged there are “obvious practical reasons” for alignment on the issue but criticised the “shifting sands” of the UK policy.
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.”
At yesterday’s Downing Street press briefing Prime Minister Boris Johnson was forced to defend the way in which he had scrapped the 14-day quarantine for arrivals to England from dozens of countries, without the agreement of the devolved nations.
He acknowledged Scotland and Wales “have a slightly different take on this”, and added: “I’m sure we will get there together and common sense will apply.”
It is understood that exemptions to the UK Government’s policy of advising against all non-essential overseas travel will be aldded, allowing people in England to take holidays overseas without their insurance policies being affected.
Mr Schapps has said travellers to England from around 60 countries and overseas territories will no longer have to quarantine when they arrive in the UK.
A full list of countries that will be exempt was published yesterday and did not include the United States. “France, Germany, Italy and Spain will be on that list. It is really important that we have done this in a very careful and cautious way,” he told Sky News. “The most important thing is to maintain the gains that we have had.”
The quarantine policy will mean that people either returning to or visiting England from the listed countries will not need to self-isolate for 14 days after arrival.
The UK Government has said there is an “expectation” that exempted countries will also not require arrivals from the UK to selfisolate. Officials “continue to work closely with international partners around the world to discuss arrangements for travellers arriving from the UK,” the government said.
The FCO’s announcement will mean that people can travel to a number of destinations overseas