Wales has now banned travellers from COVID hotspots in England from crossing the border. The First Minister said this week she fully supported the Welsh First Minister’s decision to impose a ban.
Mark Drakeford has said police in Wales will be instructed to issue penalty notices to travellers and has asked residents to inform of any breaches.
The remarkable new rules come into force on Friday, October 16.
Areas of the north of England, close to the Scottish border, have caused particular concern for Ms Sturgeon as she fights to keep Scotland’s COVID numbers under control.
Much of the north of England is currently under heavy restrictions, particularly Liverpool and surrounding areas which are currently in Tier 3 – and shares a border with Wales.
Ms Sturgeon has warned the Scottish Government “will also take whatever action we consider necessary” if Mr Johnson did not comply with her request.
She said: “We want to, if possible, have an aligned strategic framework between the four nations.
“But we have to make sure the context of that is right for the circumstances we’re facing here.
“So, without announcing any decisions because we haven’t reached them yet, there would be a couple of options if we thought the tier three announced in England wasn’t sufficient.
“You could toughen up what the minimum of Tier 3 was or you could have another tier above that.”
Ms Sturgeon is considering adopting a similar system to England’s new tiered levels – but with an added fourth level, with the First Minister making it clear at a COBRA meeting on Monday that current top-end restrictions would be insufficient in bringing the most severe outbreaks under control.
Plans for Scotland’s own system will be announced when parliament returns from recess in two weeks time.
Scotland’s central belt is currently suffering from a lack of pubs and restaurants as venues which serve alcohol have been forced to close their doors for a circuit breaker in areas like Edinburgh and Glasgow.