Greater Manchester Mayor playing politics over Scottish travel ban, claims Sturgeon
Nicola Sturgeon and Andy Burnham have clashed after the Scottish government announced all non-essential travel to Manchester and Salford would be banned due to rising coronavirus cases.
The First Minister said the Greater Manchester Mayor was playing politics but Mr Burnham said residents needed an "explanation" for the "totally disproportionate" measures.
Ms Sturgeon defended her decision, suggesting the mayor was seeking to "generate a spat" in order to position himself in a future Labour leadership contest.
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Mr Burnham hit back at the accusation saying, "I find that insulting, not for me, but for people here who are directly affected by what she announced."
He said: "If the First Minister of a country stands up at a press conference and announces that the UK's second city is going under a travel ban, it has an impact.
Citing an email he had received from a local resident, Mr Burnham added: "You know if you're an elderly couple from Bolton and you are both double-jabbed and you haven't seen your grandkids for two years, and all of a sudden you can't go to your holiday cottage this week and you're a couple of grand out of pocket, I think they are owed an explanation by the First Minister because it seems totally disproportionate to me to take that away from them."
Mr Burnham said he will be writing to Nicola Sturgeon for her to explain the rationale behind her decision and asking for compensation for people hit by the ban.
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Asked about the decision on BBC News on Monday, the First Minister said: "These are public health measures.
"I have a duty, and it's one I take very seriously, to keep Scotland as safe as possible.
"I'm sure Andy Burnham feels the same sense of duty toward people in the Greater Manchester area.
"I've always got on well with Andy Burnham and if he wants to have a grown-up conversation he only has to pick up the phone.
"But if, as I suspect might be the case, this is more about generating a spat with me as part of some positioning in a Labour leadership contest in future, then I'm not interested.
"We've all got a serious job of work to do right now and I'm serious about doing that job in a way that keeps Scotland as safe as I possibly can."
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