Police Scotland will double its presence along the border with England after the First Minister announced tighter coronavirus restrictions.

Chief Constable lain Livingstone said “highly visible patrols” on roads will be used to “deter anyone who night be considering breaching the coronavirus travel restrictions”.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced severe lockdown measures for Scotland on Saturday.

They included a “strict travel ban” preventing travel to or from other parts of the UK, which was put in place last month but was due to be removed over the Christmas period.

Some exceptions to the ban are allowed for essential purposes.

In a statement, Mr Livingstone said it would not be “appropriate or proportionate for officers to establish checkpoints or roadblocks to simply enforce travel restrictions”.

But he added: “Today, I have authorised the doubling of our operational presence in the Border areas of Scotland.

“These highly visible patrols will be proactively deployed on our road networks to continue our operational activity to ensure drivers and vehicles are in a fit condition to drive.

“The patrols will also deter anyone who night be considering breaching the coronavirus travel restrictions.”

He said he expects roads to be “quieter than usual over the corning days”.

“We have been clear throughout this public health crisis that your police service is here to support our collective effort to combat coronavirus.

“Though the rules have changed often and, at times, quickly, officers and staff will continue with common sense, empathy and discretion to work with our fellow citizens to help keep everyone safe.

“It is the consent of the public from which policing in Scotland draws its legitimacy.

“As our communities expect, where officers encounter wilful, persistent or flagrant breaches we will act decisively to enforce the law.”

John Lamont, Scottish Conservative MP for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk, said more clarity was needed.

“The Scottish Government and Police Scotland need to ensure clarity around travel restrictions to avoid any public misunderstanding,” he said.

“Clearly this virus does not respect borders but a range of exemptions have always been in place to allow safe and necessary travel for valid reasons, and we need to know if that has changed.”

A man has told a court he did not send a tweet that suggested Scotland’s Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf sympathised with terrorists.

The tweet appeared on the feed of Mr Yousaf, who was then minister for external affairs, on November 14 2015, the day after the Paris terror attacks.

The message came from the Twitter account of a Stuart Ben Smith.

It stated: “Humza Yousaf, good Scots name. I am sure he is 90 per cent backing Muslim killers. Be having a whip round for terrorist families soon.”

It was a reply to a tweet from another person’s Twitter account.

Stuart Smith, 63, is accused of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner likely to cause a reasonable person to suffer fear or alarm by posting an abusive comment to Twitter that contained grossly offensive and derogatory remarks regarding a religion.

It is alleged the offence, in Glasgow and elsewhere, on November 14 2015 was aggravated by religious prejudice.

Smith, from Gretna, Dumfries and Galloway, who is on trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court, denies the charge.

Giving evidence on Tuesday, he was questioned about the tweet by his defence agent Ian McLelland who asked: “Did you write that?”

Smith replied: “No, I did not write that.”

He told the court he had previously had issues with things he had not posted ending up on his Twitter account, which has a gun as its profile picture.

Smith said he sometimes received emails telling him he may have been hacked.

Mr McLelland said: “We have seen about a post that seems to have been attributed to you and you must have seen it on your account now.”

He replied: “When I was shown it at the police station I went back into my computer but it was two years before that it happened and I could not see it on my computer and I could not find it personally on my feed.”

The trial before Sheriff Sean Murphy continues.