A GWENT MP has called on the UK Government to introduce “smarter measures” at the border rather than a blanket quarantine for those returning from Spain.

Torfaen’s Nick Thomas-Symonds, who is also Labour’s shadow home secretary, was speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme after new rules were introduced at the weekend requiring anyone arriving back in the UK from Spain to quarantine for two weeks.

“We certainly would be following the advice and introducing protective measures at the border if there are spikes in cases in other countries, absolutely,” he said.

“But there are two serious questions around this. The first is why we are still employing the… blunt tool of the 14-day quarantining rather than smarter measures and secondly the chaotic nature of the decision-making which certainly hasn’t bred confidence in the government’s approach.”

He added: “I think you need a smarter set of quarantine measures at the airport. I’ve suggested this test, trace and isolate regime but you can also have temperature checking and other things – you look at a range of measures.”