Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has said Scotland’s imposition of a travel ban in North West England was “unnecessary”, accusing his government of “hypocrisy”.
It comes as Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced on Friday that all non-essential travel to Manchester and Salford will be banned from tomorrow.
Mr Burnham accused Scottish officials of being discourteous by not contacting him to discuss the measure imposed against his region, adding that Ms Sturgeon treated the north of England with “outrage”.
Ms Sturgeon told people not to travel from Scotland to Manchester unless it is essential
Announcing the new policy on Friday, Ms Sturgeon said the decision was made on the basis of areas of England emerging as coronavirus hotspots.
“Anyone traveling anywhere else in the Greater Manchester or Lancashire area, I would ask them to think carefully if your travel is really necessary as we are seeing cases increase in that area,” the Prime Minister said.
But other Scottish politicians, including MSP Lib Dem Alex Cole-Hamilton, have pointed out that there are some communities in Scotland “with transmission rates equal to Manchester”.
Mr Cole-Hamilton said the ban “does not make sense” and applauded Labor’s Mr Burnham for speaking out against it.
Sharing his frustration on social media, Mr Burnham said: “When the UK government made changes affecting Greater Manchester, they called us ahead to discuss it.
“The Scottish government has not granted us such courtesy. Sorry, but it is outright arrogance to say that Scottish ministers should not deign to speak to English mayors.”
Andy Burnham says travel ban imposed by Nicola Sturgeon is “unnecessary”
He added: “It seems unnecessary to me and it would have been nice if Nicola Sturgeon had contacted us beforehand to discuss it.
“Maybe the Scottish government …
More information about this article Read More
Source: news.sky.com
This notice was published: 2021-06-20 15:02:00
