DEBBIE Abrahams, Oldham East and Saddleworth MP has backed the Mayor of Greater Manchester’s open letter to the Scottish first minister in which he criticises her approach over a Covid-19 travel ban.

On Friday, Ms Sturgeon said that all non-essential travel from Manchester and Salford would be banned due to rising coronavirus cases.

The announcement prompted anger from Mr Burnham at the weekend, who said the move was “disproportionate” and should have been communicated to his administration beforehand.

A war of words ensued, and The First Minister defended her decision and suggested Mr Burnham was seeking to “generate a spat” to position himself in a future Labour leadership contest.

In response, Mr Burnham sent a letter to the first minister on Monday June 21, in which he said residents in Greater Manchester "deserve respect" and called on her to provide those impacted by the travel ban with financial compensation.

He added: “It was disappointing that neither you nor your officials thought it was appropriate to contact us to discuss the proposals or provide advanced warning of the announcement.”

The letter also asked Ms Sturgeon to clarify the criteria for the ban, as Bolton has a Covid-19 case rate of 269 per 100,000, while Dundee has a rate of 318, similar to the rate in Salford and Manchester.

Siding with Mr Burnham, Ms Abrahams said: “Andy’s right to question Nicola Sturgeon’s sudden decision to call a travel ban to Manchester and Salford without due warning.

"As Andy says in his letter, leaders are having to make difficult decisions in unprecedented times, but we must all work together across the UK to get our approach to tackling Covid as joined up as possible.”

The letter sent by Burnham on Monday, was published on the mayor’s Twitter feed and has since been retweeted by more than 1,000 Twitter users including Ms Abrahams.

On Tuesday, June 22 the Scottish Government said it will not compensate people and businesses from Manchester affected by the travel ban.

The Scottish MP and Covid Recovery Secretary, John Swinney said: “Travel to the north west of England has previously been prohibited last year, before local levels regulations were introduced and no compensation was offered.

“We are all responsible for putting in place, in our respective parts of the United Kingdom, the financial support to arrangements for business and that’s exactly what the Government will continue to do here in Scotland.”