Scotland to lift Manchester Covid travel ban

Holyrood’s decision comes eight days after policy came into force

Scotland will lift its ban on non-essential travel from Greater Manchester after “a careful review of the data”, the country’s health minister has announced.

The move comes just eight days after the policy came into effect, leading to an argument between the Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, and Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon.

Mr Burnham said he was “really disappointed” that his team had not been given advanced warning about the measure, which the Scottish government said was driven by concerns about the Delta Covid-19 variant.

He accused the SNP of “riding roughshod” over his city, in the same way that Holyrood believes it is overlooked by Westminster.

Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show more than a week ago, the former Labour MP claimed the Scottish government was treating the north of England with “contempt”.

“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,” he added.

Although the SNP dismissed his demand for compensation for holidaymakers and businesses from his area who had suffered financially as a result of the travel restrictions, talks did take place between the two sides last week.

On Tuesday, Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s health secretary, confirmed that the travel rules for Manchester and Bolton would be eased from midnight on Tuesday. The ban on travel from Blackburn and Darwen would remain in place for at least another week, he added.

The change of tack coincides with the release of coronavirus data which shows that parts of Scotland now have the highest transmission rates in the UK, surpassing part of north-west England.

The country has four of the five worst-affected local areas, with East Lothian recording 595.8 Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people in the week to 24 June, the most of any place in the UK.

Over the same seven days, Dundee, Midlothian and Edinburgh also all saw their biggest rates of new infections since comparable data started last summer.

Almost 16,000 cases were confirmed that week across the country, equivalent to 291.4 per 100,000 people, close to Scotland’s peak of 301.9 in the seven days to 4 January.

Mr Yousaf has in part attributed the rising number of infections to groups gathering indoors to watch the Euros, with men under 40 disproportionately affected by the new wave of cases.

Additional reporting by PA