a re are saying that any statement they are saying that the news that two cases of the variant have been confirmed in england is a stark reminder that we must not drop our guard. no cases as it has been detected in scotland. but the fact this new variant is on our doorstep is clearly a worry and we should act as though it is already here. the statement does point out that there is a lot to learn about the variant, lots of questions about severity. transmissibility and the effect on treatments or vaccines. scientists are working at pace. following discussions to date with the health secretary, and other devolved administrations, and in the light of the well—known practical reasons for preferring a uk—wide approach to travel restrictions, we are aligning with the new project restrictions being introduced by the uk government which will require fully vaccinated arrivals to take a pcr

test within two days of arrival and to self—isolate until a negative result is received. the measures will be introduced as soon as possible and kept under constant review, however we reserve the right to go further if necessary. the scottish government are also adopting the expanded red list of countries identified by the uk government. that was the sixth southern african countries plus the four announced earlier today. in terms of those travel restrictions, and the need for the pcr test, but also was adopted by the welsh government a hit hours ago. —— is a few hours ago. the former england captain, michael vaughan, has apologised for any hurt he may have caused his yorkshire teammate, azeem rafiq. commenting publically for the first time since being accused of racism, he spoke to dan walker, before the england and wales cricket board,

released its new action plan to tackle racism and discrimination. a warning this interview contains content some viewers may find offensive. what have the last few weeks be like? element very difficult, and the main reason is that i have seen the main reason is that i have seen the stress and the hurt that azeem rafiq has gone through. i care hugely about cricket and about yorkshire cricket, and i can see the yorkshire cricket club in particular has not dealt with the situation at all well. i see a young lad, someone that i played with, that has gone through a huge amount of hurt. i have to take some response ability for that because i played for yorkshire county cricket club for 18 years, and if in any way, shape orform i am responsible for any of his hurt, i apologise for that. you know, seeing a young

person sitting in front of the parliamentary committee in tears, going through his experiences, you know, that hurts. i'm sure you've gone over many conversations you have had in the past over the last few weeks. did you, during your time at yorkshire cricket, did you ever make any racist comments? no, ididn�*t. no. i have got to be honest, you know, 18 years in a professional dressing room, ten of those with england, i would be lying if i sat here now and said i'd never heard words or conversations that i would certainly pick out now. you know, we are a long way on from that. i believe society is a different place. we are in a world now that we

all know that things back then were wrong, and things are getting better now. that's the platform that i think we all want to try and create. how we move on from this situation is the key. i firmly believe that it is education, honest conversations, people admitting that things may have been said and sticking their hands up and saying yes, maybe i did say one or two things, but back then it wasn't deemed to be offensive but obviously now it would be. let me read you the quote that three players said you said to them. "too many of you lot, we need to do something about it". do you remember or recognise those words? i don't. my recollection from that day, as i said, i was a yorkshire player for 18 years, i was the first player to sign for that club that was not born in the county. the 18 years we have gone from me being the first to sign for the club

to sachin tendulkar to be the first overseas, to players being able to sign from other clubs, and it was my last few games, i remember it clearly, i was proud as punch that we had four asian players representing yorkshire county cricket club. nothing but a proud senior, old pro just about to retire, absolutely delighted that yorkshire had come so far in my time at the club. are they lying? i'll think we have got to move on from accusations of conversations for many years ago. there is a bigger picture here. i said from the minute that this has been talked about that yorkshire have dealt with it terribly. they avoided it. they thought it was going to go away. they were stubborn, thinking this was not going to come out. for that, i can apologise as a former yorkshire player. what azeem rafiq has gone through over the last few years, and obviously his campaign in the last year, it would have been awfulfor him to try and do, i think we are all responsible

as former yorkshire players. we have all got to take responsibility and the important aspect of a dressing room is culture, and it has to be inclusive. i feel throughout my whole time, i can look back and i honestly believe it was inclusive, but i'm more than happy for someone to have a conversation with me to say that it wasn't. can you see that there is a difference between you saying if i upset him, i apologise him, and "i'm sorry". yes, again, we can go round corners in terms of having conversations, and i can apologise if i was involved in any way, shape orform in a dressing room that had a culture that wasn't inclusive for everyone. my recollections are of all the dressing rooms i paid in, that we were inclusive to everyone. but i'm more than happy for people to come forward and say, that was not the case.

michael, you said you listened to the dcms hearing where azeem rafiq spoke for some time. can you press play on that and watch what he said about you. it was a long time ago. michael might not remember it because it doesn't mean anything to him. but three of us, we remember it. we have spoken at length about it. michael used his platform at the daily telegraph to try and discredit before anything had even spoken about, again, he clearly had a snippet of my statement. i mean, there are two specific allegations in that. let's deal with the last one first. the daily telegraph article. do you regret writing that? i don't. but i will say that i think the whole of this situation i think many will regret, and i regret many things about it.

december the 15th was the first time, 2020, that i got given a statement with these allegations, 11 years on from the game itself. that hurt me deeply. it hurt me deeply to think a player did not feel i was inclusive towards them in a team environment. i always felt that in my time playing the game, either as a player, and now as a broadcaster, the 30 years i have always felt i was that person that includes everybody. the other thing he raised was he said you properly don't remember making the comment because it doesn't mean anything to you. it's almost as damaging as the allegation of the comment itself. that hurts. that hurts, because i have always felt that every single team i have been involved in, the biggest praise i ever got as the england captain for six years was that i was the kind of person that really galvanised at the group and got the team

working together as one. i really felt i was the person in the dressing room who wanted to get everyone included. i know this is uncomfortable and i'm going to read some things you have put on social media in the past. there are old tweets of yours that have been doing the rounds in the last few weeks. from 2010 you said. finally, in response to actor and presenter adil ray after the manchester arena attack in 2017, you suggested it might be appropriate for one cricketer to go

around and asking muslims he doesn't know if they are terrorists. those are your words, those are your tweets, that's how you have chosen to portray yourself online. is that who you are? dan, i look back at my 12 years on social media and i regret many tweets. i regret the ones you just read out, i apologise deeply to anyone i offended with those tweets. would you not send those now? absolutely not. times have moved on, and i regret those tweets. i regret things i have done this week! we have all made mistakes and in my life i have made quite a few mistakes and i apologise for that, but i can't suddenly get rid of it. it has happened. i hope people realise and know me. i think sometimes through social media people can presume who you are and interpret who you are because of a tweet or two, but i know who i am and i hope the people close to me

know exactly who i am. does it embarrass you, reading those back? yes. you feel you are a different person now? absolutely. lets talk about yorkshire. you were a player at yorkshire county cricket club from 1993 until 2009. can you give us an insight because lots of people have talked about the culture at the cricket club. you were there for a long time. what was it like? it was an environment that you knew you had to work hard. it was an environment that, you know, you tried to win. i never felt anything but welcomed stop during your time there, you said you listened to what azeem rafiq said at the hearing when he talked about some of the racist comments that he had said to him, and some of the cultural issues at the club as well. were you aware of that during any of your time? he talked about cultural issues at the club and some of the racist

comments sent to him. no, i never heard that. as i said before, i heard plenty of things in my 18 years as a player in the dressing room which i would not even consider to be acceptable now, and i would say any sportsperson that is out there from that era that says otherwise, i don't think they are telling the truth. there were things said and back on the day it wasn't deemed to be offensive. it would be now. i never heard racial language in the dressing room. 0ne indian batsmen, you in 2018 when you are playing australia said he was... that was just three years ago. is that acceptable now and do you regret saying that? can you see how something like that, where you can't say someone�*s name because they are from a different culture, can be a problem? yes, i can completely accept that. clearly we are in

different times now. as you say, that was three years ago, that's how much times have moved on in three years, so when you talk about five years, ten years, 12 years, things move so quickly. we are in the situation now for the game, sporting dressing rooms, notjust cricket dressing rooms, where i think everyone needs to be educated, understanding, and the only reason why we can get to that is by having conversations. i think everyone needs to know, whereas that line? where is that line but that can happen in the dressing room and this can't happen because the market may have happened back in the day, but it now can't happen. does cricket have a problem with racism? yes, and i think cricket has to accept that problem. that's why i keep saying we need to have conversations. we need to be open and honest. we need to be very understanding. we need people to come forward

and tell their stories. i hope in five years' time we are looking back and maybe we could be sat here and say that was a line in the sand. many people have seen that the bbc have taken you away from your cricketing duties at the moment. what have they said about the future? yes, i won't be doing the ashes, which i understand. the story is all about azeem rafiq and racism in cricket, i get that. ijust hope in time i get that chance to come back. the one thing i've loved more than anything since i retired is talking cricket. i love being on test match special, and hopefully in time i will get the chance to do it again. have they said there is a time when they will reconsider you coming back to the job? no, we are having ongoing conversations, and i think that is the right way forward. ijust hope for the next year i can get back working with the team,

bbc cricket, test match special, it has been my one joy. i have had a few, but since retiring in 2009, it has been my realjoy, being able to turn up and talk cricket on the radio and hopefully i will be able to do that in the future. do you think you can rebuild your reputation? yes, i do. is it a long road? it will take time, but i'm sure people will see the true me. michael, you said you wanted to sit down with azeem rafiq and hear his story. what would be your message to him if he was watching this now? i am sorry for the hurt he has gone through. yorkshire county cricket club, i believe, is me, it has been my life, whether i am a player or not i am a senior former player, the captain. once you have played for yorkshire, you are always a yorkshire player and i'm sorry for the hurt

he has gone through. hopefully, time can't ever be a healer in the situation he has