They say local authorities should have greater powers to decide what is best for their area
pair’s plea follows a report by Public Health England and Cambridge University which put the ‘R’ value at just above 1 in the North West. That could lead to a new spike and possibly localised lockdowns, because if R is 1 or higher, the virus will spread ‘exponentially’ – while a value of less than 1 indicates the virus is in decline.
Mr Burnham, speaking on BBC Breakfast added: ‘I warned, together with the mayor of the Liverpool city region, a few weeks ago when the first relaxation of lockdown came, that it was too soon for the North West. ‘We were a few weeks behind London and the South East and our view was more time was needed to bring the infection down here.supports HTML5 video‘So clearly a decision was taken, it wasn’t delayed and you can see in the figures that were published on Friday the way the R number has risen since then.‘I think it is due mainly, I would say, to the easing of lockdown… We are kind of struggling, I think, if we are going to say “put the genie back in the bottle”.
Mr Rotheram echoed the position on Twitter, branding the rise of the R rate for the North West a ‘worrying development’ and ‘a warning sign that must be taken seriously’. The pair suggest English regions should have a seat at the Cobra committee meetings, where top politicians and Government officials lead the national response to the coronavirus crisis, because currently London, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are represented.
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