Local lockdown policy is “recipe for chaos”, says Burnham

Andy Burnham has warned against a “rush into a local lockdown policy” – which would seek to target and suppress flare-ups of the virus in specific communities – and called the plan a “recipe for chaos”.

In a Covid-19 press conference this afternoon, the Labour mayor of Greater Manchester declared that he had “significant concerns” with the plan floated by Health Secretary Matt Hancock yesterday.

Burnham claimed that it would be a “real challenge with regards to the enforceability” and “fairness” of lockdowns. He also criticised the government for the lack of information given to Greater Manchester on how the policy would work.

Commenting on the idea, Burnham said: “We are in the dark as to this policy even though it will have a major impact on us. I’m afraid it follows a pattern on personal protective equipment and testing and now this.”

The Health Secretary said during the Downing Street press conference that the “whole purpose” of the track and trace programme would be to “move to a system where we have more targeted lockdowns”. He did not announce a timeframe.

Burnham has previously warned against the government adopting a regional release from lockdown, arguing that it would be “chaotic” and calling on the government to “involve people at the local level” in planning a recovery from Covid.