Manchester Council says it won’t support further local lockdown restrictions

Four Northern cities have warned that local lockdown restrictions are ‘not working’, and are confusing ‘counter-productive’.

Leaders from Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle and Leeds have warned Health Secretary Matt Hancock that they will not be supporting further ‘economic lockdowns’, and have called for new powers to tackle the resurgence of coronavirus, which has almost doubled in a week.

The UK’s seven-day rate of infection increased to 125.7 cases per 100,000 people, up from 63.8 the week prior, ITV News reports.

Professor John Edmunds, who is advising the Government’s coronavirus response, has supported the criticism and said new national restrictions are needed immediately.

The leaders of Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle city councils – Judith Blake, Sir Richard Leese and Nick Forbes – joined Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson to write to Hancock, expressing that they are ‘extremely concerned’ with the rise in cases.

The politicians wrote: “The existing restrictions are not working, confusing for the public and some, like the 10pm rule, are counter-productive.”

They added that additional powers to punish those who break the rules should be put in place, that restrictions should be developed by police, council and public health experts, and they asked for a locally-controlled test and trace system.

“We want to be clear however that we do not support further economic lockdowns,” the leaders added.

Professor Edmunds agreed that the local measures have failed and that more stringent lockdown restrictions are needed.

He told BBC Newsnight: “These local restrictions that have been put in place in much of the north of England really haven’t been very effective.

“We need to take much more stringent measures, not just in the north of England, we need to do it countrywide, and bring the epidemic back under control.

“We will at some point put very stringent measures in place because we will have to when hospitals start to really fill up. Frankly, the better strategy is to put them in place now.”

The leaders’ plan includes:

1. Local decision-making to agree additional lockdowns before they happen and additional powers to take immediate action on non-compliance, for example closing premises.
2. A locally controlled Test and Trace system that is sensitive to local knowledge and needs of communities.
3. An improved Business Compensation Package to support those most affected.
4. Financial support for everyone who needs to self-isolate.
5. Improved monitoring of the impacts of the additional restrictions that have recently been put in place to understand their effect on COVID-19 rates