By Tony O’Riley-
The Scottish government’s decision to impose quarantine on travellers arriving from Portugal as from 4am is unreasonable and gives no consideration to those who have work or business commitments in the Uk.
Scotland announced the imposition on Thursday after Portugal exceeded the threshhold of the virus. The decision has forced Brits abroad to rush back home, disrupting their future plans heavily, and incurring heavy costs on them. Other holiday makers in Portugal are still adjusting to the news.
Why the Scottish government could not give holidaymakers 48 hours to arrange their return trip so that those who want to avoid a quarantine could do so is anybody’s guess. The sudden decision lacks empathy and common sense, dividing the already divided Uk even further. Scottish First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has a lot to answer to.
The British government is being heavily criticised for failing to provide “clarity” on the move, with travel industry leaders saying tourists have been left “totally confused” by the separate approaches.
Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, criticised ministers for offering “no clarity around how these decisions are made” and accused them of “ignoring the growing evidence suggesting this system is not working”.
“If the government is serious about letting international travel resume while prioritising public health, a major reassessment of its approach is needed,” he added.
Quarantine rules are being placed on countries where the virus is spreading faster than desired. Wales’ rules, including six Greek islands, began at 04:00 BST on Friday. Several holiday makers have had to spend hundreds of pounds to get home early.
The measures will affect those who reside in Wales and Scotland but return to the UK via England. Portugal, Greece and French Polynesia are still on England and Northern Ireland’s lists of travel corridors.
Quarantine Rules
Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, told BBC Breakfast the difference in quarantine rules was similar to the way lockdown had been applied across the UK.
“It is similar, unfortunately, with the quarantining where we look at the data and then we do speak, but, I’m afraid, quite often come to slightly different outcomes, which I appreciate is confusing for people,” he said.
He described Portugal as being on a “borderline”, adding that “the opinion of England and Northern Ireland is that it did not justify quarantine this week”.
Mr Shapps told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme Scotland “sort of jumped the gun” by introducing restrictions for arrivals from the whole of Greece.
“I’m very keen and do try to coordinate… with the other administrations so we can both announce at the same time, and ideally both announce the same things, and this week that didn’t work out,” he said.