Coronavirus: Wales bans travellers from rest of UK's COVID hotspots - but police say move is 'unenforceable'
First Minister Mark Drakeford says the evidence suggests COVID-19 is "moving from east to west across the UK and across Wales".
Wednesday 14 October 2020 21:42, UK
A travel ban on people from UK coronavirus hotspots attempting to come into Wales would be "unenforceable", police officers have said.
The comments from the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) come after the Welsh first minister announced the move was set to come into force at 6pm on Friday.
Mark Drakeford said he was introducing the measure - which will apply to Tier 2 and Tier 3 areas of England - after Prime Minister Boris Johnson did not respond to two letters asking him to enact the policy across the UK.
But the PFEW has said there would be difficulties identifying where people were travelling to and from and the measures add "yet another level of complexity" to policing.
Mark Bleasdale, Welsh lead for the Police Federation of England and Wales, said: "On the face of it, this is unenforceable because of the difficulty of identifying where people are coming from and where they are going to.
"There will also be plenty of individuals travelling legitimately from areas which are not high risk, and this will only add to the other difficulties officers face when policing the existing regulations.
"Some areas of Wales are already in lockdown, and many individuals are already unable to travel in and out of counties unless they have good reason.
"In other locations, provisions are more relaxed, so this proposed travel ban adds yet another level of complexity to policing."
Mr Bleasdale added that police forces in Wales were already "overstretched" due to the pandemic and that crime had returned to normal "pre-Covid levels".
Mr Drakeford had said he was "determined to keep Wales safe" and the evidence suggests COVID-19 is "moving from east to west across the UK and across Wales".
"As a general rule, it is concentrating in urban areas and then spreading to more sparsely populated areas as a result of people travelling," he said.
"Much of Wales is now subject to local restriction measures because levels of the virus have risen and people living in those areas are not able to travel beyond their county boundary without a reasonable excuse.
"This is designed to prevent the spread of infection within Wales and to other areas of the UK.
"We are preparing to take this action to prevent people who live in areas where there are higher COVID infection rates across the UK from travelling to Wales and bringing the virus with them."
Wales' health minister Vaughan Gething told Sky News: "Unfortunately the prime minister hasn't responded to our first minister's letter so we're going to act and use our own powers here in Wales, and that will provide a measure of protection as we consider other forms of protection that we may need to introduce."
The move will bring people in the affected parts of the UK in line with measures currently in force in the 17 areas of Wales that are currently under local lockdown measures.
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People in those areas must not leave or enter without a reasonable excuse, like work or education.
The first minister told Sky News earlier that his government was carrying out "detailed planning" for a potential short national lockdown in Wales.
Speaking to Kay Burley, Mr Drakeford said a "circuit breaking period" could be the "most effective way of turning back the tide of coronavirus".
"We want to act now in order to prevent the worst from happening, to give us a better chance of getting through the rest of the autumn and the winter," the first minister said.
Mr Drakeford said his government will look at the COVID-19 figures in Wales during the rest of the week before deciding whether such a step is required.
He said there should be a four-nation meeting of the government's emergency COBRA committee to "look at it together".
Mr Drakeford added that it was not "sensible" for Boris Johnson to dismiss a second national shutdown.
"They ought to sit down with everybody, look at it seriously and then make a proper decision," he said.