The North is not being levelled up even a bit

WHEN voters in “red wall” constituencies switched allegiance to get Brexit done, the Prime Minister promised that there would be a grand levelling up for the North. It is beginning to look more like a devastating levelling down at the moment.

South Yorkshire will join the North West into Tier Three lockdown, and it won’t be long before we follow.

It’s hard not to conclude that the Tories are willing to sacrifice the North in order to try to save the beautiful South.

There is no cohesive plan for anywhere to eventually come out of tier three restrictions and financial support is woefully inadequate.

Businesses will go under; thousands will lose jobs and many families will slide into poverty. The Conservatives have history here.

Margaret Thatcher decimated whole areas in the North when she declared war on the miners in the 1980s. It seems that Boris Johnson is determined to emulate his other great hero.

Most crucially, the local measures are not working, and they will not prevent an eventual national lockdown, because the rate of infection is increasing everywhere except Cornwall.

The other alternative is to adopt a relatively short national

“circuit breaker” type event, along with adequate financial support now.

By prevaricating, our government is merely delaying the inevitable.

Meanwhile, more people will suffer from all effects of this terrible pandemic and critically, far more people will die.