Nicola Sturgeon has hit back in a growing row with Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, accusing him of trying to pick a covid fight with her while jockeying for position in a future Labour leadership contest.
Burnham has charged Sturgeon with treating the north of England with the same contempt she claims Boris Johnson treats Scotland by announcing a travel ban to the Manchester area without notifying him.
The First Minister announced a travel ban for Scots to Manchester and Salford on Friday but the Labour mayor was infuriated that she did so without notifying him.
Burnham, who stood unsuccessfully for the Labour leadership before becoming Greater Manchester Mayor, accused Sturgeon of hypocrisy by imposing the ban without consultation.
He said: “That is exactly what the SNP always accuse the Westminster Government of doing, riding roughshod over people.”
But on Monday Sturgeon hit back, saying she had a duty to protect Scots and accused Burhnam of playing politics with the issue.
She said: "I’ve always gotten on well with Andy Burnham and if he wants a grown-up conversation all he has to do is to pick up the phone.
"But if, as I suspect maybe the case, this is more of a generating a spat with me as part of some positioning in a Labour leadership contest of the future, then I’m not interested."
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.
But Deputy First Minister John Swinney said that compensation would not “be appropriate” and that each government had schemes in place for affected citizens.
Swinney added: “The provisions that we’ve put in place in relation to Manchester and Salford are consistent approaches we’ve taken in that area before.”
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