London’s lockdown may be eased before rest of UK

Johnson sets up joint task force with mayor to oversee ‘restart’ for the capital as soon as possible

LONDON could come out of lockdown “quicker” than other parts of the country after Boris Johnson moved to take control of the capital’s coronavirus response from its mayor Sadiq Khan.

A task force has been set up to “restart” London’s economy, which will be jointly chaired by Robert Jenrick, the Communities

Khan.

It is the first time the Government has set up a separate body to oversee lockdown measures in a specific part of the country, suggesting Mr Johnson is moving to a “London first” approach to easing the restrictions.

The current nationwide rate of infection – the R rate – is between 0.7 and 1.0, meaning the virus is in retreat nationwide, but London has a lower rate of infection than other parts of the country, and the London and South East region accounts for 40 per cent of GDP, making the area vital to economic recovery.

The most recent figures also show that on some days the capital is recording no new cases of the virus. Asked whether London would come out of lockdown first, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “Without talking about a specific part of the country, what is clear in the plans is that as we are able to gather more data and have better surveillance of the rate of infection in different parts of the country, we will be able to potentially lift measures quicker in some parts of the country than others.

“We will also be able to put the brakes on more quickly in some parts of the country than others.”

Mr Jenrick announced he will jointly chair a London Transition Board with Mr Khan, which will “co-ordinate London’s response as it emerges from the lockdown and begins to reopen its economy while controlling the virus”.

The Government has, until now, been at pains to say the country will come out of lockdown as a single entity, but Mr Jenrick’s announcement contained no mention of the rest of the country, suggesting a significant shift.

Mr Khan has been involved in a bitter power struggle with Number 10, with Boris Johnson increasingly getting the upper hand over the man occupying the office he used to hold.

The Labour mayor was accused of mismanaging the finances of Transport for London after being given a £1.6billion emergency bailout from the Government to keep Tubes and buses running, and had to agree to increase fares as a condition of being given the money.

Mr Jenrick said: “Now we are past the peak it is right that we focus on safely reopening the capital, taking the necessary steps to control the virus. Through this new Transition Board, we will carefully build on the extensive planning already under way to get life and business in London – the most dynamic capital city in the world – safely back on track.”

The task force will oversee infection control, “phasing in and out of varying levels of lockdown” and “recovery of public services, such as transport”.

A Government source said London was “much more complicated” than other areas because of the huge number of people travelling by Tube and bus, and the fact that many people live in one council area, work in another and have children at school in a third. They said it was not a “land grab”, adding: “It would be wrong just to leave it to the mayor and different parts of London, there needs to be more oversight.”

A London Labour source denied the move had been forced on Mr Khan, saying: “The mayor is leading on the city’s recovery from coronavirus and is chairing the recovery task force. The transition board, which focuses on how we ease out of lockdown and contain infections, is jointly chaired with Government in part because a lot of the functions are national responsibilities, including health.”