Burnham rebuffs advice from Tory MPs
TWO MPs from the Westcountry are among those who wrote to Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham urging him to back Government efforts to move the city to the highest level of coronavirus restrictions and avoid the pain of a national lockdown.
North Cornwall’s Scott Mann and Yeovil’s Marcus Fysh signed the letter from 20 Conservative MPs, all of them representing constituencies on the lowest level of coronavirus lockdown measures.
Mr Burnham yesterday hit back at what he called “a group of southern” Tory MPs who also angered some Conservative colleagues with their call for the Greater Manchester Mayor to “engage” with the Government’s lockdown measures to prevent further restrictions in their constituencies.
Mr Burnham, who believes Manchester is being unfairly punished by being put into Tier Three of restrictions without adequate financial support to offset the economic impact, said yesterday that the “we’re all right Jack” letter would not “cut much ice here”.
Mr Burnham has also joined Sir Keir Starmer in favouring a short national lockdown, arguing it would be fairer and would get his constituents’ greater support, while some Tory MPs, including some in Greater Manchester, criticised the letter as “unhelpful”.
Mr Burnham told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “I’m not sure a sort of ‘we’re all right Jack’ letter from a group of southern Conservatives MPs is going to cut much ice here. I would say to them some of them represent constituencies whose cases were higher than ours when we went into national lockdown.
“Anywhere could end up in Tier
Three this winter, therefore it’s everyone’s concern that we protect the lowest paid in our communities.”
Led by Jerome Mayhew, the MP for Broadland in Norfolk, the letter highlighted the “disparity” between some of their areas having coronavirus rates currently far lower than Manchester’s.
“On behalf of our constituents, we feel compelled to write to you to ask you to engage with the Government’s regional approach to tackle the virus,” it added. “It is very clear to us – and the people we represent – that the local and regional approach is the right response to the current situation. We urge you to work with the Government to get the virus under control in Greater Manchester, so we can all avoid the pain of another national lockdown.”
Conservative MP William Wragg, whose Hazel Grove constituency is in Greater Manchester, recommended his colleagues “concern themselves with their own constituencies”. He added: “I would not wish tighter restrictions on their constituents.”