IT’S been some week for the Tories to get worked up about borders. Within a matter of days they celebrated building a metaphorical wall to block European citizens from the UK, and ending the free movement of UK passport holders to the rest of the European Union.

They then worked themselves up into a lather by denying that there is any border between Scotland and England at all.

How ironic it is that in a week when details emerged of the new Tory border controls between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, both parts of the United Kingdom. Border control posts are set to be constructed at Northern Ireland’s major ports to check food and animals meet EU standards, because the province will effectively remain a part of the European single market.

From January 2021, when the Brexit transition period ends, some food products entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain will be subject to new checks and controls.

According to a “sensitive” HMRC document, firms in Great Britain will be obliged to complete three rounds of customs, security and transit forms on all goods destined for Northern Ireland.

Not content with erecting border controls within the UK, Tory MPs voted at Westminster for legislation which will introduce new measures against EU citizens and end the right of UK citizens to enjoy free movement across Europe.

READ MORE: Boris Johnson claims there is no border between Scotland and England

Tory MPs crowed about the changes, which will deny people in Scotland and the rest of the UK the automatic ability to look for and take up a job in another EU country; to work there without needing a work permit; reside there for that purpose; stay there even after employment has finished; and enjoy equal treatment with EU nationals in access to employment working conditions and all other social and tax advantages.

On Tuesday, the Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination Bill was passed by 342 votes to 248 votes in the House of Commons. Despite Scottish MPs overwhelmingly opposing the legislation, the new Tory border law will be imposed on Scotland.

The Tory border fixation continued on Wednesday with Prime Minister Boris Johnson denying there was one between Scotland and England at all. As everyone in Scotland knows, there is, of course, a border, which is easily spotted due to the huge signs as you cross between Scotland and England. The Border demarcates our different legal systems and geographic limits of our laws, our different administration, governance and public services. Residents north of the border enjoy a wide range of benefits including free education which people in England do not. The majority of people living in Scotland pay less in taxation, while the Scottish Government spends more per head on key public services such as health and education.

Top Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg compounded his party’s border weirdness by telling MPs that Scotland was effectively just a “district or an area”. All of this, because First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has not ruled out the option of restricting movement from other parts of the UK where Covid-19 infections may flare up to dangerous levels.

She has not said she is intending to do this, or even planning to do it, but even the possibility that she might has wound the Tories up into a state of denial about what she is able to do to protect public health and safety.

Many countries have measures to restrict the coronavirus pandemic by restricting internal movement: between US states, between different regions in Australia, between different districts in Italy.

In England, the worrying rate of coronavirus infection in Leicester has led to a renewed lockdown, with non-essential movement to and from the control area is not permitted.

A helpful map on the Leicestershire County Council website makes clear where the border has been drawn between the areas affected. This week, we have learned that in Tory minds it is apparently sensible to combat Covid-19 in East Midlands by imposing a lockdown border between Leicester and large parts of Leicestershire, but it would be unacceptable to do this in similar outbreak situation along the Scottish/English border.

In Tory minds it is OK to introduce border control posts between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but apparently deny that there is even a national border between Scotland and England.

In Tory minds there is no remorse in ending free movement of UK and European citizens by imposing restrictions which will be policed at UK border.

Scotland’s independence vision has been to have open borders with the home nations and freedom of movement with the European Union.

It is the Tories who are erecting border posts between parts of the UK, raising border controls to stop the free movement of European citizens and denying people in Scotland and the rest of the UK the right to travel work and live freely across Europe.

We can and must aspire to a better future without the Tories’ border fixations.