Covid in Scotland: Nicola Sturgeon defends Manchester travel ban

Scotland's first minister has defended the ban on non-essential travel with Manchester and Salford after an angry reaction from the area's mayor.

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has now written to Nicola Sturgeon asking her to explain the move.

Ms Sturgeon earlier said the decision was a public health measure, based on Covid levels in the area.

Opposition politicians in Scotland said there had been a lack of consistency and a lack of consultation.

However, Ms Sturgeon - who received her second vaccination in Glasgow on Monday - said she had a "duty" to keep Scotland as safe as possible.

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"I have always got on well with Andy Burnham. If he wants a grown-up conversation he only has to pick up the phone," she said.

"But if, as I suspect might be the case, this is more about getting into a spat with me as part of a some positioning in a Labour leadership contest of the future, then I am not interested."

The first minister said she was "confused" by Mr Burnham's position.

Covid rates in Manchester and Salford are among the highest in England

"Back in May we imposed travel restrictions on Bolton for exactly the same reasons we are now doing it on Manchester," she said.

"Andy Burnham is mayor of Bolton as well and he did not raise any of these issues then."

Ms Sturgeon said the restrictions would not be enforced differently to previous travel rules, and would be in place "no longer than is absolutely necessary".

Mr Burnham acknowledged the first minister has faced "difficult decisions" during the pandemic but condemned the fact he was given no advance warning of the travel ban.

He told BBC Radio Scotland's Drivetime: "The UK government has called me when they were making changes affecting Greater Manchester. I think the first minister should have extended us the same courtesy.

"If Westminster had, without notice, imposed a travel ban on Scotland on Friday, I feel pretty certain in saying the first minister would have expressed publicly her concern in exactly the same way I am doing that on behalf of the people of Greater Manchester."

Mr Burnham's letter to the first minister also asks why residents of Bolton are still subject to a travel ban while residents of Dundee, which he said has a higher case rate, are not.

In Dundee the latest seven-day positive test rate per 100,000 population, up to 18 June, was 303.4. On Monday the seven-day figure in Bolton was 257.

Mr Burnham also called on the Scottish government to compensate those who are now out of pocket and described the suggestion he was playing politics as "fairly insulting".

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has accused the Scottish government of "hypocrisy"

Murdo Fraser, the Scottish Conservatives' spokesman for Covid recovery, said Mr Burnham was "absolutely correct" to express concern about the ban and the "lack of consultation".

Mr Fraser told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme there was a "lack of consistency" in the Scottish government's approach.

"We know that the city of Dundee, for example, has case rates very similar to Manchester," he said.

"So why is there a travel ban being introduced for Scots going to Manchester, but there are no similar restrictions put in, in relation to Dundee?"

Dundee, which has the highest Covid case rate in Scotland, recorded 487 new cases in the week up to 18 June, according to UK government figures.

Manchester recorded 1,928 cases and Salford 880 in the same period, but the rate per 100,000 people for all three areas is very similar.

Jackie Baillie, deputy leader of Scottish Labour, said people would find the ban hard to understand.

"This has just been put in place without any consultation, without any dialogue and without any concern for either the people of Manchester or the tourism industry in Scotland," she said.

"Are we consistent in saying it's OK to travel in and out of areas of Scotland where the rates of infection are higher than they are in Manchester? That's the inconsistency that people just do not understand."

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Deputy First Minister John Swinney said the provisions that had been put in place were "consistent" with approaches taken in the area previously.

Non-essential travel was banned between Scotland and Bolton in Greater Manchester, and Blackburn with Darwen in Lancashire, on 24 May.

Mr Burnham said he would be writing to the Scottish government to ask how it would compensate businesses in Manchester who could lose bookings.

But Mr Swinney said that would not be "appropriate".

Asked whether similar travel restrictions should be introduced in Dundee, Mr Swinney said the Scottish government would need to look "very carefully" at "localised situations".

Renu Bhardwaj has had to cancel her plans to travel from Glasgow to Manchester this weekend

Mother-of-two Renu Bhardwaj had been due to travel to Manchester this weekend.

"The children are finishing school in four days and we had plans to go down and meet my family again and enjoy the summer holidays, or make the most of what we can," she said.

The lifestyle blogger, who moved to Glasgow 13 years ago, used to make regular trips south to visit her relatives before the pandemic.

She said she could understand the reasoning behind the decision, but that the timing, so close to the school holidays, was "the worst for everybody".

Police Scotland said its approach throughout the pandemic remains the same.

Assistant Chief Constable Alan Speirs said: "Officers will engage with the public, explain the legislation and encourage compliance, but will not hesitate to use enforcement as a last resort.

"The Chief Constable has said publicly on numerous occasions that we will not be routinely stopping vehicles or setting up road blocks, and that will not change."

On Monday, the UK recorded another 10,633 Covid cases - including 8,766 cases for England and 1,250 for Scotland.

Both nations have seen rising seven-day infection rates, with the Scottish rate at 131.7 per 100,000 people and 92.7 per 100,000 people in England on 18 June.

Scotland, which has one of the highest infection rates in Europe but also one of the highest vaccination rates, has paused the lifting of Covid restrictions this summer because of rising cases.

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