Wales to ban travel from UK Covid hotspots
- Published
People from parts of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland that have high rates of coronavirus will be banned from travelling to Wales from Friday.
Wales' First Minister Mark Drakeford said the move was needed "to prevent the spread of infection within Wales" and elsewhere in the UK.
It follows a row with the prime minister over whether parts of England should have travel restrictions.
Scotland's Nicola Sturgeon said she fully supported Mr Drakeford's move.
Earlier she said she would write to the prime minister seeking urgent talks over UK-wide travel restrictions and called for a "sensible agreement" between the four nations.
It is not currently clear which areas will be subject to the new Welsh restrictions.
Mr Drakeford had written twice in recent weeks to Boris Johnson asking for travel to be restricted in and out of areas with high levels of transmission in England.
The UK government has refused to do so, instead asking people in the Liverpool City Region to avoid non-essential travel.
image copyrightGetty ImagesMr Drakeford said: "Evidence from public health professionals suggests coronavirus is moving from east to west across the UK and across Wales.
"As a general rule, it is concentrating in urban areas and then spreading to more sparsely populated areas as a result of people travelling."
The rules will come into force on Friday at 18:00 BST.
Fully support @fmwales on this. These are public health decisions, and nothing to do with constitutional or political debates. @scotgov will also take whatever action we consider necessary to control COVID. https://t.co/FTFKIwBrfE
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) October 14, 2020
Mr Drakeford told the Welsh Parliament that he had written again to Boris Johnson.
"That gives more time for the prime minister, the UK government, to do the things that we have asked him to do, to do the same thing for people who live in England as we have done for people who live in Wales."
"We've already heard from the first minister in Scotland, and she is eager to support what we're trying to do here.
"Now is the time for the prime minister to do the same thing."
The announcement was "long overdue", according to Plaid Cymru's Adam Price: "I'm pleased to see the Welsh Government finally taking this necessary course of action to protect the people of Wales."
But Welsh Conservative health spokesman Andrew RT Davies said the Welsh Government's "unhealthy obsession" with "'banning the English' flies in the face of all the evidence".
image copyrightGetty ImagesWhile people in the 17 local lockdown areas in Wales are subject to travel restrictions, areas under tougher restrictions in England are not.
It means travel is possible between places like Liverpool and Greater Manchester and those parts of Wales not under the lockdown rules.
Wales' restrictions - which only allow travel for a limited set of reasons like school and work - can be enforced with fines.
The prime minister's spokesman rejected Mr Drakeford's latest call for restrictions on Tuesday, after he had threatened to impose rules.
"There are no physical borders between Wales and England," the spokesman said.
Earlier in October Boris Johnson said he did not want to impose travel restrictions within the UK generally.
"We are all one country, people should exercise their common sense," he told BBC Wales.
Mr Drakeford said the UK government's action in England was "inadequate" after a Cobra meeting with the prime minister on Monday.
There was sympathy for the Welsh Government's decision from the Conservative MP for Lichfield Michael Fabricant.
"This move is understandable," he tweeted, adding: "But talk by a minority of Welsh nationalists of 'stopping the English at the border' creates tensions and damages tourism in Gwynedd and elsewhere in Wales."