Local lockdown talks continue as UK heads for ‘bigger-than-80s’ challenge

The government is pushing on with its messy local lockdown plan, insisting that the national ‘circuit break’ idea advocated by Keir Starmer, leaders in Greater Manchester and its own scientific advisory group is merely “political posturing”. The latest talks between Andy Burnham and No 10 were “constructive” and the Chancellor is thought willing now to offer tens of millions to Greater Manchester as it enters Tier 3. With nearly double the population, they could receive much more than the Liverpool city region’s £30m for local businesses. Will that be enough to break the impasse? Burnham did tell Marr: “I would do anything to protect low-paid workers.”

The Labour mayor has been pushing for an 80% furlough scheme to ensure they don’t need to struggle on poverty wages, and he has asked for the same for the self-employed who are currently being offered a rotten deal by the government. While the rumoured funding is better than the status quo, and the Covid situation in Greater Manchester is serious as hospital beds are reportedly running out, anything short of a more generous furlough scheme as demanded will simply mean more battles with local leaders in the coming weeks and months – and for every other area of the country it would be a shame for Burnham, who has prove himself an effective campaigner and clear communicator, not to be leading that fight.

Gordon Brown, in his Alliance for Full Employment (AFFE) work, has published a new report that finds as many as one million young people will be unemployed as November begins. Just as Rishi Sunak’s job support scheme will only save 230,000 jobs according to IPPR, leaving nine in ten not saved, the research highlights that just 120,000 young unemployed people will qualify for the government’s new ‘kickstart’ programme. It requires applicants to have been registered as long-term unemployed, i.e. for over six months. The former Prime Minister concludes: “Today we are dealing with a far bigger challenge than in the 1980s, and it needs a UK-wide jobs summit bringing together the regions and nations with the Prime Minister.”

Ballots in Labour’s national executive committee elections start dropping today. The end of the four-month contests are in sight as they come to a close in just over three weeks. 15 seats are up: nine local party reps, a disabled rep, a youth rep, two councillors, a treasurer and a Welsh rep (with three MP reps already chosen). It is complex as there are different voting systems: the local party reps are still picked via one-member-one-vote, but a single transferable vote (STV) system is being used for the first time, which involves ranking in order of preference. The disabled and youth reps use an electoral college, which makes the preferences of trade unions crucial. More information can be found in our explainer from earlier in the year.