Failure to secure our borders was one of Britain’s greatest Covid failings - Stephen Jardine

On Monday morning I sat on a bench at Cramond and watched a Turkish Airlines flight makes its slow descent into Edinburgh Airport.
Customers at a TAP Air Portugal check-in desk in the departures hall at Terminal 2 of Heathrow Airport on December 21, 2020. Picture: NIKLAS HALLE'N/AFP via Getty ImagesCustomers at a TAP Air Portugal check-in desk in the departures hall at Terminal 2 of Heathrow Airport on December 21, 2020. Picture: NIKLAS HALLE'N/AFP via Getty Images
Customers at a TAP Air Portugal check-in desk in the departures hall at Terminal 2 of Heathrow Airport on December 21, 2020. Picture: NIKLAS HALLE'N/AFP via Getty Images

Normally this is right on the flight path but there are so few planes nowadays, even the seagulls looked surprised by the big metal bird in the sky.

Just hours earlier, the Scottish Government had introduced compulsory hotel quarantine for anyone flying into Scotland from overseas. Since all foreign travel is banned unless you have a "reasonable excuse”, you might wonder who can tick that box and justify the £1,750 cost of a week long stay in a quarantine hotel?

It is surprising how money concentrates the mind.

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About 60 people were booked on the flight but when told of the new rules, only a handful chose to travel. It is reasonable to assume the remainder suddenly remembered they didn’t need to travel at all or have spent the last few days making their way north after switching to a London flight where arrivals from Turkey are not forced to quarantine in a hotel.

Both options are indictments of the mess that is the Covid travel situation. When the public inquiry is held into the handling of the pandemic, the failure to secure our borders will without doubt be one of Britain’s greatest failings.

When the outbreak started last March, we had an advantage over China, France, Italy and most other countries in the world. Unlike them we are an island with entry and exit points that are comparatively easy to secure.

New Zealand spotted that and acted quickly and has reaped the rewards. Closer to home, even the Isle of Man stopped easy access and as a result faced only 25 deaths. It has now ended lockdown.

In contrast, the UK remained open to all comers. For us mere citizens, going to the pub down the road was impossible but anyone coming abroad seemed to have no difficulty at all reaching our shores, despite a worldwide pandemic.

In December, Heathrow dealt with a million passengers across the month and even last week, 10,000 a day were still coming through the airport. What on earth are they all doing?

A few may be visiting sick relatives or here on urgent business that cannot be done in any other way but the checks on that should be stringent and comprehensive.

The main reason people kept on flying into the UK in the year since the pandemic started is very simple, they did it because they could. While other countries slammed the door on the UK as soon as the Kent variant emerged, the Prime Minister continued to say it was “not practical” to close our borders. Wasn’t a key justification for Brexit the ability to decide who steps on these shores?

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Instead of using the natural defence of being an island nation in a global pandemic, we left the door wide open because London is now a global super city and has to be seen to be available and trading at all times. The price for that has been high.

Finally we have the system in place that should have been introduced in March last year.

Inconvenient as it is for everyone, the hotel quarantine arrangements need to remain for the foreseeable future until Covid rates here are low and the rest of the world plays catch up on vaccination

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