NICOLA Sturgeon said she still has concerns over the UK Government’s decision on air bridges.

The First Minister is coming under increasing pressure to name the countries Scotland will agree to quarantine-free travel with.

Airport bosses have blasted her for not following the UK Government’s lead. But yesterday, the SNP leader she wasn’t “just going to be a rubber stamp for decisions taken elsewhere”, adding public safety had to be paramount.

The row came as Barrhead Travel announced redundancies, blaming coronavirus, while Unite the union warned of more than 300 job losses at Menzies Aviation at Glasgow and Edinburgh airports as a result of the lockdown.

Around 59 bridges – which allow travellers to popular destinations to come and go without the requirement to self-isolate for 14 days – have been in operation in England since last week.

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Sturgeon has said that while the governments agree on low-risk countries – the green routes – there is still some disagreement over the medium-risk countries.

The First Minister said she had heard “very loudly” representations from airports but had to “balance that with public health considerations”.

As she warned coronavirus could “spiral out of control again in the blink of an eye”, she said: “I’m not in any aspect of this prepared to simply be a rubber stamp on decisions taken by another Government.

“I’m not criticising those decisions but I have got to assess them and apply judgment to them here.”

She stressed the decision-making process is a “careful and considered one to try to make sure we continue to contain a virus that has since March taken the lives of more than 4000 people in Scotland”.

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Sturgeon, speaking at her daily briefing in Edinburgh, said: “I understand the impatience here but we must take these decisions properly.

“If people want a First Minister that is just going to be a rubber stamp for decisions taken elsewhere at any point – but particularly where she has a concern that those decisions may not be absolutely the right ones given the circumstances we face in Scotland – then that is not me.

“We need to do that careful analysis, we need to weigh up the risks and benefits ourselves, and we need to come to a considered view overall.”

Interim chief medical officer Dr Gregor Smith said the global situation is “very volatile”.

He said: “As community transmission becomes much less across Scotland, one of the considerations we have got to make is how we prevent fresh importations of Covid-19 from other country.

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“The situation internationally right now is very volatile, we’re seeing a lot of countries – not just across Europe but across the globe – where there are very changing pictures domestically.

“We want to make sure as we take these very important decisions we have got the latest information and data available to us so we can make a very safe decision.”

Meanwhile, the First Minister has promised to carefully consider calls for a national day of mourning and remembrance to remember those who have died from coronavirus.

Last week, Donald Macaskill, the CEO of Scottish Care, called for some form of tribute to the thousands of Scots who have died directly or indirectly from Covid-19.

Writing on his blog, he said many people who has lost a loved one “have found it hard to reconcile a return to ‘normal’ with the loss and emptiness which is a constant ache in their waking moments and restless nights”.

Macaskill said that many had been prevented from mourning by lockdown.

The First Minister said that, at an appropriate time, Scotland would “absolutely as a country, collectively, want to remember, and mark the loss of life”.

Sturgeon said the Government would “sensitively and carefully” consider all ideas put forward. She added: “Obviously we will listen to different views and, particularly, I think the views of those who have been bereaved, as a result of Covid-19.”