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Police chiefs have warned that Mark Drakeford’s plan to impose a travel ban on English visitors to Wales from coronavirus hotspots is “ unenforceable ”.
The Prime Minister of Wales announced yesterday that he intends to ban people from areas with high levels of Covid-19 if Boris Johnson does not impose travel restrictions across the UK.
But the Police Federation of England and Wales said “policing in Wales is already overloaded due to the pandemic” and the new measures would add “another level of complexity to policing.”
Meanwhile, the proposals have sparked a furious political backlash and Tory MPs labeled the move “clumsy and stupid” as they also accused Drakeford of being “guilty of little man syndrome.
Drakeford defended his proposals this morning as he said police could use automatic license plate recognition (ANPR) technology to trap visitors to UK prohibited areas.
He also said that holiday providers in Wales should not accept bookings from people in UK hotspot areas, as he cautioned that existing getaway plans “may no longer be honored.”
It came as Nicola Sturgeon backed Drakeford’s call for nationwide travel restrictions in high incidence areas, as she said she would not rule out imposing a Welsh-style ban on visitors.
Wales Prime Minister Mark Drakeford (pictured in Cardiff in May) said people from other parts of the UK would be fined if they traveled to Wales from places like Liverpool.
Nicola Sturgeon has supported Drakeford’s requests for Boris Johnson to introduce UK-wide travel restrictions in hotspot areas.
Drakeford told the Welsh Parliament yesterday that he had called for work on the travel ban to be advanced after Johnson failed to respond to two letters asking him to roll out the measure across the UK.
The Welsh Government’s plans will bring people from other parts of the UK to the measures currently in place in all 17 areas of Wales under local lockdown restrictions.
Under those rules, people must not enter or leave an affected area without a reasonable excuse, such as work or education.
But currently, people living in Covid-19 hotspots in other parts of the UK can enter areas of Wales that are not under restrictions where levels of the virus are low.
The ban is likely to apply to people living in level two and three areas of England and is designed to prevent them from traveling to tourist destinations like the far west and south west Wales, which have low levels of coronavirus.
It will also affect those who live in areas of Scotland and Northern Ireland with a high prevalence of Covid-19.
Those who ignore the restrictions will break the law and could face notices of flat fines starting at £ 50.
But Mark Bleasdale, Welsh leader of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said: ‘At first glance this cannot be enforced due to the difficulty of identifying where people are coming from and where they are going.
There will also be many people legitimately traveling from areas that are not high risk, and this will only add to the other difficulties officers face when policing existing regulations.
“Some areas of Wales are already closed, and many people are no longer able to travel in and out of the counties unless they have a good reason. Elsewhere the provisions are more relaxed, so this proposed travel ban adds another layer of complexity to surveillance. ”
Drakeford’s proposals have caused a political storm, with Conservative MPs furious at the prospect of the Welsh government banning visitors from parts of England.
A Conservative MP said: ‘It’s a completely bad idea. Drakeford is a quasi nationalist. Clearly, he’s guilty of the little man syndrome.
He’s going to make himself look a bit silly and I suspect the police will just lip service.
“He’s clumsy and stupid and he’s going to cultivate a lot of grievances.”
Conservative Member of Parliament for Wales, Andrew RT Davies, said: “The Welsh Government’s unhealthy obsession with travel restrictions and ‘banning the English’ runs counter to all evidence.
Former Minister Simon Clarke said: ‘The balkanization of the UK in this way is deeply regrettable. Not what the return should be about.
Cases by date reported are shown above for the four UK nations. Shows the number of people who have had at least one laboratory confirmed positive result for Covid-19.
Drakeford defended his proposals this morning, saying police could use ANPR technology to identify visitors from areas of the UK with high levels of coronavirus.
He told BBC Breakfast: “I think the police will have a variety of techniques that they can use.
“License plates are one way they can identify cars that travel long distances, but that will not be the only way.
“They will have long practice techniques developed at the beginning of the year and they will apply them again in the coming weeks.”
Drakeford said he is “baffled” by Johnson’s reluctance to impose travel restrictions on people at Covid-19 hotspots across the UK.
He said Mr. Johnson “could still change his mind and then we shouldn’t have to do what we’re doing.”
There is a growing fear that the travel ban will cause lasting harm to the Welsh tourism industry.
Drakeford said that holiday providers in Wales should not accept medium-term bookings from people in high-incidence areas of the UK.
When asked about existing reservations, he told BBC Breakfast: “I am afraid that those reservations may no longer be honored.”
It came after Sturgeon said a similar travel ban could be implemented in Scotland to prevent people from traveling from coronavirus hotspots in other parts of the UK.
The SNP leader said she wants all parts of the UK to restrict travel from areas with the highest number of cases, as she warned Scots not to travel to or from hotspots within the country, mainly around the Belt. Central where cases are increasing.
She added: ‘The Prime Minister of Wales is seeking agreement among the four UK nations on travel restrictions where necessary, from high prevalence areas in one UK nation to lower prevalence in others.
“I want to make it clear today that I endorse the calls from the Prime Minister of Wales and will write to the Prime Minister today to seek urgent talks on that issue.
‘If we believe that formal travel restrictions are necessary, we will do so. I’m not ruling that out, I’m not ruling out anything. But obviously the police cannot stop everyone on the roads to check whether they are traveling for essential purposes. ”
It was reported that Ms Sturgeon sought urgent legal advice on whether a cross-border travel ban can be introduced.
And this morning, the Westminster leader of the SNP said Scotland could implement measures to prevent non-essential travel from coronavirus hot spots.
Ian Blackford told BBC Radio 4’s Today show: “Of course, we have the opportunity to implement appropriate public health measures.
“What we can do, if necessary, is that people should not travel from access points, whether they are from Scotland or people coming to Scotland from other parts of the UK.”
