Thursday 15 October 2020

Police say Wales's ban on English visitors from COVID hotspots is 'UNENFORCEABLE'

 


Police chiefs have warned Mark Drakeford's plan to impose a travel ban on English visitors to Wales from coronavirus hotspots is 'unenforceable'. 

The Welsh First Minister announced yesterday he intends to prohibit entry to people from areas with high levels of Covid-19 if Boris Johnson fails to impose UK-wide travel restrictions. 

But the Police Federation of England and Wales said 'policing in Wales is already over-stretched due to the pandemic' and the new measures would add 'yet another level of complexity to policing'. 

Meanwhile, the proposals have sparked a furious political backlash with Tory MPs labelling the move 'heavy handed and stupid' as they also accused Mr Drakeford of being 'guilty of small man syndrome'.    

 Mr Drakeford defended his proposals this morning as he said police could use automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology to catch visitors from banned areas of the UK. 

He also said holiday providers in Wales should not accept bookings from people in hotspot areas of the UK as he warned existing getaway plans 'will no longer be able to be honoured'.   

It came as Nicola Sturgeon backed Mr Drakeford's call for nationwide travel restrictions on high incidence areas as she said she would not rule out imposing a Wales-style ban on visitors. 




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