SNP demands UK action after 8,000 a week still arrive in Scotland without health check

Joanna Cherry QC MP has written to Priti Patel raising concerns about the Home Secretary's failure to act, which has meant hundreds of thousands of people have entered the UK without appropriate checks and measures in the months since the pandemic began.

READ MORE: 8,000 a week still arriving in Scotland – and not one is tested for Covid-19

The SNP Shadow Home Secretary said the Home Office must finally bring the UK into line with other countries, where tighter measures are being placed on travel in response to coronavirus.

According to figures provided to the Herald, Scottish airports are only handling around 3% of the over 260,000 passengers that would usually come into the country on a typical week. It still amounts to over 1000 a day.

But the UK government has decided against health checks for people arriving into airports.

South Korea has ten times the population of Scotland but with just 230 deaths from Covid-19 on Friday has 29% of our fatalities. The east Asian nation, with a population of 51.64m, has 1.67% of the death toll of the UK, which has a population of 66.65m.

A key to the success of South Korea, which was among the first countries to bring the outbreak under control, was a containment strategy that involved stepping up border controls.

Rather than outright bans, South Korea is using widespread testing and technology-enabled tracking to allow people to travel to the country. Mandatory testing and quarantines apply to nearly all arrivals from overseas, including citizens.

Commenting, Joanna Cherry QC MP said: "The UK government must urgently introduce coronavirus health checks and quarantine measures at the border for people travelling to the UK.

"It is deeply concerning that the Home Secretary has failed to act - and is still allowing thousands of people to enter the UK without appropriate checks and measures in place.

"Other countries in Europe and across the world have already introduced these measures - leaving the UK as an outlier. The UK government has been far too slow to act and must now step up to prevent an increased risk of transmission.

"For people to have confidence in the UK government's approach, it is crucial they put these long-overdue measures in place and set out how this will form part of a considered exit strategy."

The Scottish Government when asked about the current health checks failure said on Friday:  "While border control is reserved to the UK Government, the Scottish Government is closely following the most up to date guidance from Health Protection Scotland (HPS) when it comes to travellers arriving at Scottish airports. We are ensuring that airports are providing all the health facilities and services that HPS advises.

“The Scottish Government continues to have regular discussions with HPS and if health protection advice changes, we will ensure airports act accordingly.”

A Government spokesman responded saying: “Our approach to tackling coronavirus is and has always been driven by the latest scientific and medical advice, and procedures at the border have been strictly following the latest Public Health England guidance throughout. In line with that advice, no changes have been required at the UK border.

“Travel into the UK has dropped significantly in response to the coronavirus outbreak but it’s important that commercial routes are kept open to make sure that British people overseas can get home, to support our supply chains, and to ensure the delivery of vital freight and equipment.”

Joanna Cherry QC MP's letter to Priti Patel:

Dear Priti, I hope you and your loved ones are keeping well during this serious health crisis.

When we spoke on April 11th, I raised concerns about the number of people continuing to enter the United Kingdom at airports across these islands without any health checks or quarantining. These concerns are widely shared by many members of the public, including my own constituents. You explained that this was largely a matter for the Department of Transport and that the current approach is based on advice from Public Health England but subject to review by SAGE.

I pointed out that border control is a matter for the Home Office and that many other countries across Europe and the world have some form of health checks at airports plus quarantining for arrivals. Accordingly, the UK seems to be something of an outlier in terms of the current approach.

Nothing has changed over the past 10 days and this weekend it has been reported that over 260,000 passengers continue to arrive in the UK on a weekly basis with 8,000 of those arriving at Scottish airports. There seems now to be general agreement that we should be moving to a system of testing, contract tracing and isolation and I am pleased that the tracing App I raised with you during our call ten days ago is now in an advanced stage of preparation. I look forward to discussing with you the privacy and civil liberties protections that will need to be in place before the app goes live.

As we move to contact tracing, new systems will require to be put in place and I am suggesting that it would be appropriate to include some form of health checks at airports and other points of entry to the UK for those arriving from abroad. I would like to propose that COVID19 assessment points are set up after Border Control, with health checks, including virus testing, and instructions and advice for quarantine as a condition for admission to the UK. I fully accept that health checks, even testing, would not catch every case of the virus that comes into the UK before communication. However, given the rate of transmission of this virus, any significant interruption of the chain of transmission would seem to be worthwhile. Moreover, I am sure that border health control measures of the sort adopted by other countries might also serve to increase public confidence and support for the general approach as we move towards consideration of the conditions for a relaxing of lockdown.

I look forward to having a response from you to my proposal in early course and to being notified of the date of my next briefing as the SNP’s shadow Home Secretary. Yours sincerely,

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