The COVID Diaries – 191 15th October
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham says he will not accept his city being used “as canaries in the coalmine for an experimental regional lockdown strategy”. He went on to claim that the government’s own medical advisers did not think the policy would work.
Boris Johnson’s approach to tackling the coronavirus has descended into chaos after mayors and MPs from the north-west of the country emphatically rejected being moved into the highest lockdown level and accused ministers of treating the region with contempt.
Talks designed to broker an agreement ended with bitter and angry exchanges, deepening a north-south rift that has left the government’s strategy of tiered restrictions in turmoil.