Burnham fury at Sturgeon over travel ban ‘hypocrisy’

● Manchester mayor’s compensation demand to Scottish Government

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has accused the Scottish Government of “hypocrisy” over a travel ban to the area – and said he would be demanding compensation. Sturgeon announced on Friday all non-essential travel to Manchester and Salford would be banned from Monday, but the Labour mayor said neither he or his administration were contacted before the announcement. The First Minister pinpointnicola ed the areas as Covid-19 hotspots, despite figures in the cities matching case rates in parts of Scotland.

“Anyone travelling elsewhere in the Greater Manchester or Lancashire area, I’d ask to think carefully about whether your journey is really necessary, because we do see cases rising across that region,” she said on Friday in a coronavirus briefing.

Mr Burnham said yesterday: “I was really disappointed on Friday that the First Minister of Scotland just