Airbridges - will Scotland have separate rules?

[rookiemere]

If air bridges are agreed with some countries, does anyone know if that's for whole of UK or would Scotland be able to do something different regarding quarantine?
I get confused as to what Scotland has control over versus what's centrally decided.

@MumofHunter

England and Spain have similarly high rates of Covid. Scotland and Australia have similarly low rates of Covid (as no movement out of the states with high Covid allowed). People coming back from Spain ( high rate) must quarantine so Scotland keeps its low rate otherwise there's a risk that the past four months have been a total waste of time for everyone!!!! It's really not rocket science.

This makes no sense.

My friend’s husband is from a large Scottish city. Works all round England. Is currently back and forth to England no problems, no quarantine, no checks. By the way he works for a utility, so under heavy regulation.

But we can’t go on holiday to Spain because it’s like England, according to you.

@YouBonnieBanks
You're completely contradicting yourself - saying NS's just trying to be different then saying it's risky having people come back from abroad, especially in the BAME community or working in a food factory?

@TheMurk According to the SG (guessing you didn't watch today's up- date).

No I didn’t watch the daily lecture.

I have better things to be getting on with than being “telt” how it is by wee Nicola.

I don’t see what that’s got to do with your post.

You’re saying it’s okay to allow flights between Scotland and Australia, but not between Scotland and Spain because their rates are similar to England’s... where we can freely travel to from Scotland.

I am not contradicting myself

I don't think its safe to fly anywhere, much as I'd like to go on holiday abroad.

I don't think either government should be letting us fly, quarantine or no quarantine, and keep flights for importing/exporting products.

Rather than ban all flights, krankie chose to do ONE thing differently, just to be different and less obvious she's just following westminster.

Again, it's not me , it's the SG that said it in today's briefing. I don't know why they're not asking people travelling from England to quarantine.

Why quote it then, it clearly makes no sense.

You must admit she’s just being contrary to make a point, there’s absolutely no logic in it.

Possibly because they know how many travel to/ from England for work.

'Rather than ban all flights, krankie chose to do ONE thing differently, just to be different and less obvious she's just following westminster.'

Yes I'm sure that was her train of thought.

@MumofHunter you really think they have that level of detail? They know every bam and ganger crossing the border in the back of a van for a job?

This is what pisses me off about the whole saga.

Yes there’s a core of fine upstanding citizens following the guidelines. But for every one of them there’s two complete weapons who couldn’t care less.

And guess what, despite that, there are only a handful of new infections every day in Scotland.

I wasn't meaning they know exact numbers of how many people travel to England for work / vice versa. Thought that was fairly obvious but clearly not. I do apologise.
They will know a lot do travel to England for work and I suspect will have weighed up the risk versus the impact on people not being able to do their jobs if people couldn't do cross border travel w/o quarantine.

By that logic have they weighed up the impact of me not being able to do my job in Scotland because of the restrictions they still haven’t lifted here? You can try and defend her til the cows come home but there are so many inconsistencies and arbitrary guidelines, it’s political bollocks and nothing more.

They will have weighed up the risk of opening the sector you work in, yes. I hope you can get back to work soon.

The really small sector of people who work cross border.

Much of it makes no sense and is contradictory. Child minders who might look after children all summer can't look after them before and after school come mid August as that counts as two care settings, never mind that the child has possibly spent more waking time with the childminder than their parents for weeks or that the only other children the CM might have could be younger siblings of the child in school or nursery. And yet childminders could currently have children from up to 4 families with them now, with no PPE other than they might ordinarily use (e.g. gloves while changing nappies) and that's been the case for ages, since before playgrounds were open. So now parents might have no access to childcare before and after school...

Anyway that's not really about holidays so i'll shut up...

Hope those that have something booked either get away or are able to argue the case for a refund.

I must admit I think NS might be proved right. But it's all confusing and unworkable. And unfair on people living in Scotland.

On the one hand, big-picture-horrible-contagious-disease and on the other hand mental-health-people-need-a-holiday. I think decision making will be easier and happier if people have the information they need and trust the leadership.

Hunter I'm (hopefully) going to stay in a cottage near Fort William so Ben Nevis is definitely on the cards. I would be very happy to simply admire the view with a glass of something alcoholic and local though.

Assuming I am allowed in and not turned away at the border, I also want to go to Arisaig, Oban, Loch Tay, Loch Ness and Stirling (all places that have happy memories for me) and Skye (always wanted to see it) if the bridge is open.

I'm still not absolutely sure any of it will happen.

I must admit I think NS might be proved right

Well even a stopped click is right twice a day...

Stopped clock ⏰

Willowkins I'm pretty certain your holiday to Scotland will take place. It's not that cold and I guess you're not coming to Scotland for the weather anyway . It's a lovely part of the world and the scenery is free and always open for viewing.

The tourist trade is opening up, certainly here in Edinburgh lots of local attractions have reopened and many pubs and restaurants seem keen to have future custom.

As with England things are shaped slightly differently so you will need to prebook visits and restaurant slots. Indoor areas for restaurants are due to reopen on 15/07. You will need to wear masks if indoors at shops and visitor attractions.

Also regarding Scottish/English border, my friend said she saw lots of Scottish number plates as they made their way down to the Eurotunnel. Ditto someone else in the Lake District.

I can see there is a concern if people are holidaying in covid hot spots, but to be fair to the British government- wether we agree with it or not - they did close down Leicester once cases started rising.

It would be lovely to have zero covid cases, but as many have said, Scotland is not an island. If it can only be achieved by locking people inside the country and keeping visitors out then it's not sustainable. The numbers are at such a low level now that it should be relatively easy for track and trace to keep on top of new cases and keep them localised.

How do you recognize Scottish/English number plates?

I guess it's the Scottish flags. Though not everyone has them.

I never had it in any of my car's over the years. Very few have it (that I can see). I am really puzzled by this.

Cars. Oops...