AN SNP MP has accused Boris Johnson of risking lives by coming to Scotland for a “futile Union Jackery trip”.
Speaking in the Commons, Neale Hanvey said the visit was unnecessary as “the PM has the ability to insult our intelligence from London”.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson reportedly coming to Scotland this week in bid to save union
The Tory leader is due north of the Border tomorrow, it’s thought he’ll be meeting with troops from one of the Army’s Vaccination Centre Setup Teams.
But his visit comes just days after the SNP unveiled plans for a second independence referendum. Twenty polls in a row have now put support for Yes ahead.
When the Sun revealed Johnson's trip, it was billed as a chance to make an "impassioned plea for Scots to reject narrow separatism, and hail the benefits of being in the UK".
Currently, it’s against the law to travel from England into Scotland without a “reasonable excuse”.
The Prime Minister – and everyone else – can “travel for work” but only when that cannot be done from home.
READ MORE: Scottish independence: Anger over Boris Johnson's planned day trip to Scotland
Johnson's visit has been criticised by SNP and LibDem politicians who warned that he could end up spreading the coronavirus.
But yesterday Alister Jack, the Secretary of State for Scotland insisted precautions were being taken.
He said that everyone on the trip would “be lateral-flow tested before they leave and all Covid rules will be adhered to".
But in the Commons on Wednesday, Hanvey, the MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, said he wasn’t reassured.
Studies have shown that in symptomless people later flow testing can miss the virus.
In the Liverpool pilot study, 60% of infected symptomless people went undetected.
The UK Government has recently paused plans to introduce daily lateral flow testing in schools in England.
Hanvey said: “The UK officially now has the highest Covid mortality rate anywhere in the world. “And we know infield accuracy of lateral flow tests have a 50% chance of being wrong.
“As the Prime Minister and his entourage are relying on such inaccurate test results, and given the PM's disastrous handling of the pandemic, why is the Secretary of State risking lives by backing his futile Union Jackery trip to Scotland against public health advice when he knows the PM has the ability to insult our intelligence from London?”
A bemused Jack replied: “That's ridiculous. The Prime Minister is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and wherever he needs to go in his vital work against this pandemic he will go.”
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