I didn’t want to write this column – but my anger at Nicola Sturgeon leaves me no choice

How dare the SNP and Welsh Labour sell themselves as pro-immigrant parties when they are seeking to make travel as hard as possible for immigrants, writes Marie Le Conte

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon (PA)

I really didn’t want to write about this, you know. I sat down at my desk and I was getting ready to ask some – I hope – interesting and incisive questions about the current state of the Conservative Party. I had a bit of gossip and some insights to share, and I was looking forward to doing my job, which is covering British politics.

Instead, it is 2021 and I am an immigrant, and yet again I have to drop everything to remind everyone of the fact that I exist.

Of course, I realise that it’s not really anyone’s fault that the novel coronavirus decided to mutate; there isn’t much any of us can do about that. In fact, when it was announced at the press conference last week that all arrivals to Britain would now have to self-isolate until receiving the results of a PCR test, I said nothing. Yes, it means I will be going home to France for Christmas and my birthday, until 30 December, then taking a test at the airport and praying to any gods available that the results arrive in time for New Year’s Eve. But that is fine.

It will be stressful but everything about living in a global pandemic is stressful; we must all make sacrifices and I am ready to play my part. What I am not ready to do, however, is set my entire life on hold, again, purely because I have committed the terrible crime of not having been born in this country.

On Monday, Nicola Sturgeon and her Welsh counterpart wrote to Boris Johnson to argue that the decision on day two tests did not go far enough, and that he should reinstate the mandatory day eight PCR test and force people to isolate until then. A Downing Street spokesperson rejected the call a few hours later, which was reassuring but did little to quell my fury.

For a start, we know that No 10 currently disagrees with Holyrood and the Senedd, but how long will that last for? If we have learnt anything from the past 18 months, it is that Westminster will often end up following the lead of the devolved administrations. Does this mean I and others like me should lose sleep about our future plans until the very day they happen? Will I have to call my grandmother to tell her I am no longer coming home for Christmas a week before the event? A day? The bone-deep anxiety of last December is already settling in again, and there is nothing I can do to stop it.

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Secondly, how dare the SNP and Welsh Labour sell themselves as open, welcoming and pro-immigrant parties when this is how they act? How dare they call themselves progressives when they will take any opportunity to throw immigrants under the bus? How will they look at people born abroad or with family and partners overseas in the eye at the next election, and tell them they’re the best choice? Is their vision of the world really one in which the lives of foreigners are inherently less important than those born on British soil, with lives confined within the borders of the country?

I am writing this despite having wanted to write about virtually anything else because I worry the actions of those parties will be forgotten once this ends. They should not. Making it harder for people to travel between countries should be seen as a drastic, terrible measure of last resort, not a first step whenever governments get twitchy. If it is a policy you advocate for at the drop of a hat, your party should no longer be allowed to define itself as kind and respectful to immigrants. Words are cheap; actions are what matters, especially in times of crisis. We won’t forget this.