Government 'shambolic' on making Spanish quarantine decision, says Labour

Updated

The way the government made a decision to impose a quarantine on those people travelling from Spain to Britain was "shambolic", the health policy chief for the Labour Party said on Sunday.

"I can understand why the government have made this decision ... but of course the way in which this decision has been made in the last 24 hours is frankly shambolic," Jonathan Ashworth told Sky News, saying the government had given those Britons holidaying in Spain no time to plan for a quarantine by bringing in the new rule with little notice.

In other news, the Spanish government is focused on convincing Britain to exclude the Balearic and Canary islands from a 14-day quarantine it abruptly imposed on all travellers returning from Spain, Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya said on Sunday.

"Spain is safe, it is safe for Spaniards, it is safe for tourists," Gonzalez Laya told reporters.

She added that her government would take measures regarding other countries if needed, based on epidemilogic data, but that there would be no tit-for-tat retaliation taking place.

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