Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 09 December 2020
One of the consequences of the Parliament not voting on or scrutinising Covid regulations until several weeks after they have been imposed is that the regulations can be out of date when we eventually come to debate the matter.
That is certainly the case with the regulations on travel. They were introduced at a time when England was in lockdown, Wales had a ban on non-essential cross-border travel and Northern Ireland was considering what further action was needed to bring the virus under control there. However, England is no longer in lockdown and, although there is, rightly, travel guidance in place, there are no legally enforceable travel restrictions south of the border or in Northern Ireland. Crucially, Wales has amended its travel regulations to allow non-essential travel between Wales and tier 1 and tier 2 areas in England.
Scotland remains the only country that allows non-essential travel in Scotland between low-level areas but bans non-essential travel between Scotland and a low-tier area in England. The Scottish Government’s regulations mean that constituents of mine in the Borders, East Lothian and Dumfries and Galloway can travel freely between those areas and to any level 1 or 2 area of Scotland, but would be breaking the law—they would be criminals—if they carried out any non-essential travel to Cumbria, which is just a few miles away.