Burnham accuses Sturgeon of ‘hypocrisy’ over travelling ban
out of the blue, as far as we were concerned, a travel ban saying that people couldn’t travel from Scotland to Manchester and Salford and people couldn’t go the other way.
“That is exactly what the SNP always accuse the Westminster Government of doing, riding roughshod over people.
“The SNP are treating the north of England with the same contempt in bringing that in without any consultation with us.”
He added: “I just think it’s double standards, it’s hypocrisy. They’ve done to us exactly what they always complain that the UK Government does to Scotland.”
Mr Burnham said he would be looking for his constituents who planned to travel north of the border to be financially compensated by the Scottish Government.
“I’ll be writing to the First Minister today,” he said.
“I’ll be asking for compensation for the individuals who might lose holidays and the businesses who might lose bookings.
“Why should a couple from Salford who are double jabbed who are about to go on a walking holiday in Scotland not be able to go?
“It’s completely disproporannounced
tionate in my view – we could have come up with a different arrangement if the First Minister had been in touch with us.”
Mr Burnham went on to say there should be “an arrangement” put in place, which would mean there would have to be consultation between Scotland and the north of England before such a travel ban was put in place.
The Manchester mayor’s comments come as Scotland recorded1,205casesofcoronavirus in the previous 24 hours, with no registered deaths.
The positivity rate also remained high compared with recent months, rising to 5.8 per cent of all tests, compared to 4.5 per cent the day before.
The NHS Lothian health board area saw the highest number of new cases, with 321, followed by Greater Glasgow and Clyde on 294 and Lanarkshire on 125.
Scottish Government trade minister Ivan Mckee said a
decision on Covid-19 had to be made quickly.
“The virus, as we know, moves very fast, decisions are made very fast and those decisions are communicated at a four nations level,” he said.
“Andy Burnham… is going to write to the First Minister about it, that’s absolutely fine and I’m sure there will be a conversation about how we can keep him better informed in future.”
But Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said: “We know that law was made on Thursday morning to introduce these restrictions into Greater Manchester and a ban on travel, yet it wasn’t announced until over 24 hours later.
“If Ivan Mckee says there’s not good enough dialogue between the UK Government and the Scottish Government, there was 24 hours that passed before anyone in Greater Manchester knew of a decision taken by the Scottish Government a day earlier.”
The row comes as pilots launched an appeal for urgent action to help aviation because of the “devastating” impact of the pandemic on UK airlines and airports. The British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa) said the UK aviation industry has been the hardest hit in Europe by restrictions on international travel.
Its analysis of official European air traffic data for June showed that the number of flights into and out of the UK has fallen by three-quarters compared to 2019.
The union said its study showed that Gatwick and Manchester airports were the worst affected in Europe, with
Heathrow and Stansted close behind. According to world trade body the International Air Transport Association, 860,000 jobs in UK aviation travel and tourism have been lost or are on furlough and are at risk of being lost, said Balpa.
General secretary Brian Strutton said: “It’s official. The UK aviation industry is the hardest hit in Europe, caused by the UK Government’s ludicrously cautious restrictions on international travel.
“Hapless ministers give all the appearance of deliberately attacking aviation and tormenting the public with their mixed messages over summer holidays.
“Balpa is demanding that the UK Government gets its act together and opens the US routes and European holiday travel destinations that it has blocked with no published evidence at all.”
Balpa members will join colleagues from across the aviation and travel industry to take their message to MPS in Westminster, and MSPS in Holyrood, as part of a nationwide Travel Day of Action on Wednesday.
Pilots will also join action at Heathrow, Bristol, Edinburgh and Manchester airports.
The day of action will see calls to allow international travel to return safely and in a risk-managed way by properly implementing the Global Travel Taskforce’s plan for a traf fic light system.
It said this can be done by expanding the green list “in line with the evidence and making restrictions more proportionate”, while keeping a strong red list to guard against variants.
It is also calling on ministers to bring forward a package of tailored financial support, including extension of furlough support, recognising that the travel sector’s ability to trade and generate income is “much slower than first anticipated and more gradual than for businesses in the domestic economy”.
Let’s give all over-40s both jabs before the end of restrictions in England, says leading scientist
A senior health official has said she hopes the delay to the end of lockdown will allow time for everyone in England over the age of 40 to get both vaccinations.
Dr Susan Hopkins, strategic director for Covid-19 at Public Health England, said getting as many people as possible jabbed by 19 July should mean the latest wave in Covid-19 cases caused by the Delta variant will not be as deadly as previous waves.
Last week, the UK government was forced to delay socalled “Freedom Day”, when all restrictions will be lifted, by four weeks due to a worrying rise in positive tests.
Speaking to the BBC'S The Andrew Marr Show, Dr Hopkins said: "The extra time to vaccinate more people, get two doses of vaccination in as many people as possible, will hopefully mean that what we're seeing with this
wave won't look the same as the previous waves that we've seen in this country."
She continued: "What I would like to see is that everyone over the age of 40 has had the opportunity to get double vaccinated. And as many people over the age of 30 have the opportunity to get two doses of vaccination as well.
"We know that two doses of vaccination really protects against hospital admission, about 94 per cent overall and 92 per cent for Astrazeneca and 96 per cent for Pfizer. Overall, as many people getting two doses of vaccination would be really good."
She added: "We should be able to hit the 70 per cent figure having two doses before 19 July ."
It comes as Public Health England's regional director for London said people living in the capital will need to build resilience ahead of 19
July. Professor Kevin Fenton told radio station LBC that it was unlikely the city would have all over-30s double vaccinated by then.
He said: "We're in the foothills of what could possibly be a third wave, we should be doing the hands, face, space, ventilate, prevention.
"Get the first dose in as soon as possible because even with the first source, there is some protection that you will receive.
"And we [will] continue to practise those preventive measures - vaccinating now won't stop the rises we are seeing in the community this week, but they will begin to build the resilience for the city as we get to 19 July ."
Dr Hopkins also said that in some areas where the Delta variant had been most prevalent there were signs the virus was being brought under control by the vaccination
programme. But this has been offset by rises elsewhere.
According to PHE data there has been a 79 per cent rise in one week in cases of the Delta variant, first identified in India, with the increase being driven by younger age groups.
Dr Hopkins also suggested holidaymakers returning from abroad who have been double vaccinated might be able to avoid quarantine isolation.
She said scientists would be looking at data from other countries, particularly Israel, where they are considering allowing those visiting the country who have had two jabs to skip quarantine.
"We will need to be alert and will need to consider how we can measure the response of these vaccines to new variants that come along," Dr Hopkins said.