Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has hit out at Nicola Sturgeon after travel restrictions were placed on Manchester and Salford this week.
New rules banning travel between Scotland and the neighbouring north west cities come into effect on Monday.
The Scottish Government announced the restrictions due to rise in the prevalence of Delta variant in the region.
But Burnham has been left aggrieved by the restrictions that he says were imposed without any warning and described the move as "unnecessary".
He wrote on Twitter: "This seems unnecessary to me … and it would have been nice if Nicola Sturgeon had contacted us beforehand to discuss it. Maybe the Scottish Government should try living by the same standards it frequently accuses the UK Government of lacking? #DoubleStandards
"And will they be providing any compensation for Greater Manchester residents whose trips are now being cancelled or businesses here losing bookings?"
Burnham has been backed by other Scottish politicians who agree with his complaint with areas such as Dundee at similar Covid levels as Manchester.
Alex Cole-Hamilton, Lib Dem MSP for Edinburgh Western, said Burnham was right to "call out" the First Minister.
He wrote: "Given that we have communities in Scotland with transmission rates equal to that of Manchester, this travel ban does not make sense while travel unrestricted across Scotland. This is think of a number politics and@AndyBurnhamGM is right to call it out."
Paul Sweeney, Labour & Co-op MSP for Glasgow Region, added: "Greater Manchester's Mayor@AndyBurnhamGM is right, not only was this announcement discourteous to him and the people of Greater Manchester, the decision was made on Thursday morning - before First Minister's Questions - yet @NicolaSturgeon did not inform the Scottish Parliament."
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The First Minister confirmed the travel restrictions at a coronavirus briefing earlier this week.
Sturgeon said: “I regret that we are introducing restrictions on travel between Scotland and two cities in England.
“Manchester and Salford currently have high levels of Covid and so from Monday onwards non-essential travel between Scotland and those cities is not permitted. Non-essential travel is already prohibited between Scotland and Bolton and Blackburn with Darwen.
“Anyone travelling elsewhere in the Greater Manchester or Lancashire area, I’d ask you to think carefully about whether your journey is really necessary because we do see cases rising across that region.”
Acknowledging that the move would be disappointing for those planning visits, she added that the Covid-19 rates were "particularly high".
She said: “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.”
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