Andy Burnham: “Please do not consider a regional release from lockdown”

“Please do not consider a regional release from lockdown,” Andy Burnham told the government this morning as discussions of the UK exit strategy continued to grow.

In a Sky News interview, the Labour mayor of Greater Manchester warned against the idea of lifting distancing measures “region by region”, saying: “That would be chaotic, in my view, and I certainly wouldn’t accept that.”

Burnham also said it would be “very hard” for the local economy to sustain the current degree of lockdown for a significant length of time, and that this would mean the recovery would be “very hard” too.

Appearing after Tony Blair, who stressed the importance of now setting out a lockdown exit plan, Burnham said the former Prime Minister was “right to pose these questions”.

The mayor urged the government to “plan ahead” and “involve people at the local level”, as he explained how the devolved health and social care system in Greater Manchester worked differently to the rest of the UK.

Burnham raised concerns about the inclusiveness of coronavirus COBRA meetings, which initially did not see London mayor Sadiq Khan invited.

“It’s frustrating, I have to say, that there is no representation for English regions on COBRA,” Burnham said.

“The mayor of London is on it, rightly, Scottish and Welsh First Ministers. And yet there’s not been a place for the English regions, and we need to correct that.”

It was reported over the weekend in a Sunday Times investigation that Boris Johnson had missed five coronavirus COBRA meetings in the early stages of the pandemic hitting the UK.