Fury of the North in great revolt over local lockdowns
A ‘TRAFFIC light’ system for local lockdown measures is to be introduced to make them easier to understand after ministers faced anger over the restrictions yesterday.
The elected mayor of Middlesbrough became the first local leader to declare his opposition to the rules, saying they were ‘draconian’ and threatened people’s livelihoods.
Middlesbrough was one of four areas hit with new restrictions on socialising yesterday, along with Liverpool, Warrington and Hartlepool. The move left almost 17million people in the UK under some form of localised l o c k d o wn- s t y l e restrictions.
Middlesbrough mayor Andy Preston last night said that he ‘did not accept’ the new rules and that they had been introduced on the basis of ‘factual inaccuracies and a monstrous and frightening lack of communication and ignorance’.
Disquiet about the variety of rules across the country has been growing, with many questioning the logic and clarity of the regulations which now cover a swathe of the North of England. Yesterday, Government sources said that plans were being drawn up to replace the patchwork of ‘local’ lockdowns with a simpler three-tier system.
The alert level would be linked to the new NHS test and trace app, allowing people to easily look up the current restrictions in their area.
It comes after Boris Johnson was forced to make an embarrassing apology this week after muddling up the rules applying to people in the North East of England.
And yesterday Health Secretary Matt Hancock was accused in the Commons of failing to act ‘like a Conservative’ and of presiding over a ‘ nanny state’. He claimed that ‘hundreds of thousands of deaths’ could follow i f coronavirus was allowed to ‘let rip’ through the country once more.
Details of the plans are still being finalised. But under one version being circulated by officials, all areas of the country with fewer than 100 cases per 100,000 people would be rated as ‘green’. In these areas, which would cover most of the country, only national rules like the rule of six, the 10pm curfew and the requirement to wear masks would apply.
Areas with more cases would be rated ‘amber’ and have restrictions similar to those now in place across much of the North of England, including a ban on household visits and a ban on indoor socialising.
Ministers are still determining the cut- off for the ‘red’ rating, which some officials have dubbed the ‘nuclear option’. This would involve a near- total l ockdown, with only schools and essential shops allowed to remain open.
It is understood that no area in England is currently thought to need this level of restriction. But there are fears this could quickly change unless the virus is controlled.
Councils in lockdown areas could also be given more cash. Under one proposal, those in ‘amber’ areas would receive an extra £1 per head of population, while those in red-rated zones would get double this.
A Government source said the new system would make restrictions easier to understand.
Downing Street insisted no decision on the issue had been made.
Some ministers are said to be concerned that a three-tier system would be too crude to respond to circumstances in local areas. However, following the Prime Minister’s gaffe this week, there is a growing recognition of the need for simplicity.
Cabinet Office minister Penny Mordaunt yesterday joked that comedian Matt Lucas – who wrote a song about early lockdown rules – would now have to ‘write an opera’ to cover the same topic. But she defended the decision to pursue large- scale localised lockdowns to help stave off further national restrictions.
‘They’re more complex because we have regional and local lockdowns as opposed to a blanket lockdown, and I think that’s what the nation wants,’ she said.
The Prime Minister this week raised the prospect that the l ocalised spread of the virus in the North of England meant a national lockdown might yet be avoided if people there follow the rules.
‘That’s what the nation wants’