PETE Wishart has accused Douglas Ross of double standards after he defended Andy Burnham’s criticism that the Scottish Government had not told him in advance it was introducing a travel ban between Scotland and Manchester and Salford.
Wishart said Ross would take any opportunity to attack SNP ministers underlining that the Conservatives had not consulted Scots on the new UK-Australia trade deal and Brexit.
Ross suggested dialogue between Nicola Sturgeon’s administration and the Labour mayor of Greater Manchester could have been better ahead of the measure being introduced.
He spoke out after Scottish Government 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.
READ MORE: WATCH: Andy Burnham steps up attack on Scottish Government over travel ban
“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.”
Appearing just after McKee on the BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show, 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.”
Wishart, who has recently come under personal attack from Ross during a Scottish Affairs select committee hearing, said: “There is a lack of consultation that we get from the Tories we get on practically any major issue.
“Think of the UK-Australia trade deal. There was no consultation on that. The Scottish Government was just expected to go along with it regardless of the risk to Scottish agriculture.
“This is the absolute worst and utter hypocrisy.”
The First Minister announced on Friday that all non-essential travel to Manchester and Salford would be banned from today.
But the Greater Manchester mayor said he nor his administration were not contacted before the announcement. Burnham accused the Scottish Government on Saturday of hypocrisy over not consulting him despite the SNP regularly complaining of being left out by the UK Government of important decisions.
He then stepped up his criticism when he appeared on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show yesterday.
The mayor said he would be writing to the Scottish Government to demand compensation for people who had booked visits to Scotland and then had to cancel.
READ MORE: Covid update: Travel ban announced between Scotland and parts of England
“I was really disappointed on Friday that the First Minister of Scotland just announced 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,” Burnham said.
“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.”
A travel ban between Scotland and Blackburn, Darwen and Bolton and Bedford was announced by the First Minister last month.
Although the restrictions on travel to Bedford was removed on Friday.
On May 21 she said that while a wider legal ban would not be placed at that point on other areas of Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Bedfordshire she advised Scots not to travel there.
She added: “We are not placing legal restrictions on travel to Lancashire or Greater Manchester more widely or to areas around Bedfordshire.
“If you are planning to visit these areas in the next few days please consider whether you need to make the visit or whether it can be delayed.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Nobody wants travel restrictions in place for any longer than is absolutely necessary and placing restrictions on travel between Scotland and Manchester and Salford has only been taken after extremely careful consideration, and in the same way we have previously done in relation to a number of other areas in England.
“We are taking a four nations approach wherever possible and are always willing to work across all levels of government to protect our local economies whilst, critically, ensuring we minimise the risk of Covid-19 spreading.
“We realise that for those with family or friends in Manchester or Salford, or for anyone who was simply planning a visit, this is disappointing.
"But rates of Covid in these cities are particularly high at the moment and these restrictions are intended to minimise the risk of either exacerbating the situation there or indeed allowing more virus to come back here to Scotland.
“The Scottish rules on travel to and from other parts of the Common Travel Area are kept under active review and are subject to change depending on the state of the pandemic.
"Given the importance of using up to date data, this can sometimes happen at short notice and we would ask everyone to check the latest guidance before they travel, and check what insurance or booking arrangements are in place for any travel or accommodation booked in advance.”
Bolton, Blackburn with Darwen and Bedford were added to the travel restrictions list on May 24, following the First Minister's announcement three days earlier. Bolton is also in Greater Manchester. Bedford was removed from the list on June 18.
All of England was on the list until 26 April. Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales and Jersey have also all at times been listed in the Common Travel Area restrictions schedule.
Regarding Ireland, the Scottish Government has previously limited travel to specific counties such as Donegal. Before the local levels regulations were introduced, there was a previous restriction on travel to the north west of England.
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