Wendy Chamberlain got to question the Prime Minister this week. She asked him to sort out the issue that means that she and other Scots travelling between Scotland and England, and everyone living in the Borders, who may cross from Scotland to England several times a day, to sort out a problem with the respective English and Scottish test and trace apps.
Anyone crossing the border has to manually switch between apps. It doesn’t happen automatically. So you might think that your app is working, but it isn’t if you haven’t made the change between them.
See Wendy in action here:
The English and Scottish test and trace apps don't work together. You have to switch manually between them, a huge problem for border communities.
After my question at PMQs, the PM has committed to ensure app interoperability. I’ll be holding him to this commitment! pic.twitter.com/0U22Lprwhw
— Wendy Chamberlain MP (@wendychambLD) October 14, 2020
Boris Johnson sounded pretty clueless in response, as you would expect. He did say he’d sort it, though.
We will not be holding our breath for that to happen, given the challenges our PM has with basic competence, but I’m sure Wendy will keep pressing for change.
At the very least, she’s raised awareness of the issue for people who may not know it exists.
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de Pfeffel and his government have two jobs – federal for the UK and national for England. They sometimes forget which hat they’re wearing.
People crossing borders as part of their normal life is possibly viewed as an inconvenience to many planners and politicians. Only strict rules will alter someone’s life habits. Presumably you obey Scottish rules when you’re in Scotland and vice versa. It must be tempting to ignore these local complexities as in the borders between tiers 1,2&3.