As leader of the SNP, Nicola Sturgeon has earned a reputation for rallying against what she argues is an arrogant Westminster elite which rides roughshod over Scots. It appears now though that the Scottish First Minister might be getting a taste of her own medicine. This week, she has ended up in a fierce war of words with the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, after the Scottish government unilaterally introduced a travel ban on Manchester and Salford.
On Friday, Sturgeon announced without warning that travel between the two North West areas and Scotland would be forbidden from Sunday, due to rising concerns about the Indian (or Delta) variant. Travel had already been suspended between Scotland and Blackburn, Darwen and Bolton.
In response, Andy Burnham lashed out over the weekend, and accused the First Minister of ‘hypocrisy’ for not letting him know about the travel ban before it was announced. The Greater Manchester mayor suggested that his region had been treated with ‘contempt’, and compared the North West’s treatment to the SNP’s usual complaints about Westminster:
‘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 also requested that the Scottish government give compensation to holidaymakers in Salford and Manchester who were planning to travel to Scotland this week (a suggestion spurned by the deputy First Minister John Swinney).
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