Nicola Sturgeon right to look at option of border quarantine to save lives in Scotland

In a public health emergency, governments across the world have to consider all options to keep people safe.

One of the flashpoints in Scotland is whether people travelling here from England should have to quarantine.

Nobody wants to see such a restriction put in place, but it would be irresponsible to rule it out.

Those travelling from England may have to quarantine (Getty Images)

If infection levels rise in England, freedom of movement throughout the UK could lead to deaths in Scotland.

This is why Nicola Sturgeon has said she cannot dismiss the idea, even though her Government has no plans to introduce it.

Against this backdrop, Boris Johnson’s intervention yesterday was nothing short of disgraceful.

To label the quarantine option as “astonishing and shameful” was as ignorant as it was dangerous.

In New York, governor Andrew Cuomo told Americans that anyone travelling from various states to his home patch would have to self-quarantine for 14 days.

Does the Prime Minister believe Cuomo’s actions are “shameful”?

Or is he only ramping up the rhetoric for a domestic Tory audience?

The UK Government has, by its actions in locking down Leicester, conceded that geographical restrictions are necessary.

Johnson is behaving like a partisan party leader, rather than the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.