Discussions ongoing between UK and Scottish Governments about Scotland-England border restrictions

Discussions are ongoing between the governments of Scotland and the UK around possible future restrictions at the Scotland-England border to reduce transmission of Covid-19.

"Welcome to Scotland" sign at the Scotland/England border. Picture: Getty Images.

Scotland is keen to work “collaboratively” on a four-nation basis regarding the border, Deputy First Minister John Swinney said at the coronavirus daily briefing on Friday.

It comes after Health Secretary Jeane Freeman did not rule out roadblocks at the border if the UK Government does not tighten its international quarantine proposals, which are currently more lenient than those in Scotland.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said last week that plans by the UK Government for a “managed quarantine” system for travellers from certain countries do not go far enough, as she announced Scotland will do the same for all travellers.

She added she will continue to urge the UK Government to tighten its system.

Ms Freeman said on Friday morning: “Discussions need to continue to see what more we can do, if we can’t persuade the UK Government to take the tough, clinically-led approach that we are taking, then we need to work with them to identify how can we then continue to protect Scotland to the maximum level.”

Asked about possible border checks at the coronavirus daily briefing on Friday, Mr Swinney said discussions are “ongoing” between the Scottish and UK governments about restrictions.

He welcomed comments from Michael Gove earlier this week that people should not enter England from abroad and then cross over the border to Scotland.

“I thought that was a particularly helpful comment from Michael Gove about how we might be able to put in place arrangements that enable us to put up as big and as effective an obstacle as we would like to put in place to stop the re-importation of the virus, and that will be material to the discussions which we take forward,” he said.

Genomic sequencing reports showed that Covid-19 was re-seeded in Scotland during the summer, following near elimination.

A report to the Scentific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) whose authors included academics from the universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews estimated that half of Covid-19 strains were introduced to Scotland from England, with 24 per cent from the rest of Europe and 7-8 per cent each from Wales, Asia and North America.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.