SCOTLAND'S Deputy First Minister has defended the Scottish Government's decision to implement a last-minute ban of people entering the nation from certain parts of England.

John Swinney said it had acted within the realms of what the public would expect from them after it announced on Friday that residents from Greater Manchester and Salford have been temporarily banned from travelling to Scotland and vice versa.

He told the Today programme: "We have got to take decisions based on the data and the evidence that presents itself, and take decisions which are designed to stop the spread of the virus.

"In our judgment, the rising case numbers and the high levels of the virus in the Greater Manchester and Salford area justified the decision we took and we are taking that to try and minimise the circulation of the virus."

When questioned about the last-minute nature of the ban, he added: "That is something we will reflect on but we put in place very similar provisions in relation to Bolton, which is part of the Greater Manchester area, back in May, and we've just followed exactly the same approach in relation to this decision."

Deputy First Minister for Scotland John Swinney has said Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham's call for compensation after residents from Manchester and Salford were temporarily banned from entering the nation due to a rise in coronavirus cases is not "a relevant point".

"We obviously face many challenges in the suppression of coronavirus," Mr Swinney told the BBC's Today programme.

"We have in place, in Scotland, business support that we have made available to companies to try and sustain them, there will be support in place in England for exactly the same circumstances.

"We have got to take decisions based on the data that presents itself and sometimes that is very uncomfortable data for us.

"We have to act quickly to try to make sure we are doing everything possible to suppress the spread of the virus, and that is what members of the public would expect of us."