Nicola Sturgeon suggests closing border if UK lockdown ends prematurely

'I don’t have the power to close borders but these are discussions of course we want to continue to have with the UK Government.'

Nicola Sturgeon has suggested she could ask to close the border if the UK government ends the lockdown prematurely.

Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show, the First Minister was asked if she had the power to close the border with England.

She said: ‘I don’t have the power to close borders but these are discussions of course we want to continue to have with the UK Government.

‘And on this question of will Scotland do things differently — not for the sake of it, we won’t. Only if the evidence and our judgement tells us that is necessary.

‘Now that would mean, if — and it is an if — the UK Government took decisions that I thought were premature in terms of coming out of the lockdown, then clearly I would want to make sure Scotland did what I judged was best to protect the population.’

But following a backlash from political rivals, Ms Sturgeon’s Health Secretary Jeane Freeman later claimed the First Minister was talking about external UK borders, not the 108-mile border between Scotland and England.

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During the daily briefing, Ms Freeman said: ‘Just for clarity, can I be clear that what the First Minister was talking about was international borders, ie entry into the UK from outside of the UK and liaising and discussing with the UK Government what more could be done there.’

But Ms Freeman added to the confusion when she refused to rule out the possibility of SNP leaders asking to shut the border.

Scots Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie told The Sun: ‘The First Minister should have crushed this madcap suggestion at the first time of asking.

‘But the fact the Health Secretary failed to crush it at the second time of asking is extra­ordinary. I can’t believe they are seriously considering this.

‘Choking off the supply lines for food, drink and essential supplies or the flow of key and essential workers back and forth would cause massive harm.’

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