The Guardian 3 February 2021 - by Jessica Elgot, Deputy Political Editor
Boris Johnson has defended visiting a Scottish vaccine plant despite a coronavirus outbreak at the site, saying “no one is going to stop me” visiting all parts of the UK.
The prime minister was criticised by Scottish leaders including the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, for his trip to Scotland last week at a time when only essential travel is permitted.
The Daily Record reported that Johnson’s visit to the Valneva factory took place 24 hours after a public health investigation which found 14 coronavirus cases – about one in eight of the workforce. Valneva’s chief financial officer, David Lawrence, said Downing Street had been informed ahead of the trip.
Responding to the SNP’s Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, in the Commons, Johnson denied any knowledge of the issue. Blackford said it was an “absolutely shocking error of judgment. Anyone can see that his campaign trip to Scotland was utterly, utterly reckless”.
Blackford said that Number 10 had made a choice to proceed with the visit. “They knew the visit posed a risk … the prime minister put politics before public health. Why be so reckless?”
Johnson said he had not been made aware of the outbreak “before or since” the visit to Valneva. “It is my job to visit every part of this country, nothing and no one is going to is going to stop me, and I am very, very proud of the record of the government in rolling out the vaccine,” he said.
Related: Two new Covid vaccines have less efficacy against South African strain
During his exchange with the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, Johnson refused to commit to a date for the introduction of hotel quarantine for Covid-19, though it is widely expected by the industry to be 15 February.
Starmer demanded the government publish evidence from scientists on the border policy, after it was reported that the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) said only a complete premptive closure of borders, or the mandatory quarantine of all visitors upon arrival, would fully prevent new cases or new variants.
“So why did the prime minister choose not to do the one thing that Sage said could prevent new variants coming to the United Kingdom?” Starmer asked.
Johnson said there was no recommendation for a complete ban. “They say that travel bans should not be relied upon to stop importation of new variants,” he said, calling the border policies “one of the toughest regimes in the world”.
Starmer said the scramble to contain the spread of the variant identified in South Africa was proof the current measures were leaky. “If they were working, the variant wouldn’t be in the country, the single biggest threat to the vaccine system.”
