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BEFORE THIS WEEK, the UK government implemented a new tiered lock system to combat the spread of the virus in England.
That plan already appears to be in tatters with politicians in the north of the country foiling Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan to place badly affected areas like Greater Manchester on the highest alert level.
In recent days, several English mayors, including Labor Party politician Andy Burnham, have steadfastly refused to allow the government to introduce any further restrictions.
But what is really happening and where is everything going?
Who is Andy Burnham?
You may have seen images circulating on social media of a bespectacled man giving a passionate speech about the British government’s deal with the north of England.
That’s Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester.
Originally from Liverpool, he was a UK Labor MP for Leigh in Greater Manchester, who served as secretary for culture and also as secretary for health in Gordon Brown’s cabinet.
On two occasions, Burnham unsuccessfully ran for party leader. He was defeated in fourth place by Ed Miliband in 2010 and in second place by Jeremy Corbyn in 2015.
Burnham served as Corbyn’s shadow Home Secretary before stepping down before the 2017 election to run for Mayor of Manchester.
Receiving a whopping 63% of the vote, he was elected to office in May 2017.
Where do I know it from?
This isn’t the first headline-grabbing speech Burnham has made, so you’ve likely seen it on the news before, especially if you’re a Liverpool fan.
Despite being a lifelong Everton fan, Burnham is a very popular man among the Kopitas in Merseyside and abroad.
This has to do with his role in getting the Brown government to deliver a second investigation into the 1989 Hillsborough disaster in which 96 football fans lost their lives.
In 2009, after being interrupted by Liverpool fans at a Hillsborough commemoration at Anfield, he delivered a speech to parliament calling for a new investigation into the deaths and the subsequent cover-up by South Yorkshire police.
The investigation concluded in 2012 that no fans were responsible for the disaster and that a “lack of police control” caused the stadium to be crushed.
It was a landmark find, leading to official government apologies from then-Prime Minister David Cameron.
Burnham received a very different reception in 2014 when he returned to Anfield, where he gave a moving speech to mark the 25th anniversary of the tragedy.
So what are you doing now?
Simply put, Burnham has rejected the UK government’s new strategy for dealing with the pandemic.
Under the new plan, unveiled by Downing Street on Monday, different parts of England will be placed on three different levels of restrictions: medium, high and very high alert.
Local infection rates dictate the severity of regional blocks.
At the ‘medium alert’ level, standard UK Covid restrictions apply, including a ban on social gatherings of more than six people and weddings of more than 15.
At the ‘high alert’ level, people are asked not to meet anyone inside outside their social or family bubble. Most restaurants and pubs can stay open, but exercise and sport classes can only be held indoors if people can avoid mingling with someone outside of their own bubble.
At the “very high alert” level, pubs and bars have to close, weddings are prohibited, and people are asked not to travel outside of their own “very high alert” zone or another.
That’s England, but what about the rest?
Each individual region within the UK follows its own rules.
Scotland is supposed to introduce a similar tiered system in late October.
Wales is considering blocking the circuit breaker for “two weeks to stay home.”
Meanwhile, Northern Ireland has entered a four-week partial lockdown.
Well, what parts of England are at what level?
At the start of the new tiered system, only Liverpool, where the virus incidence rate is currently 642.3 per 100,000 people, was at the “very high alert” level.
Yesterday, Lancashire also agreed to move to that third level.
Most of England is at the first level or “medium alert” level.
Newcastle, Nottingham and, as of today, London and neighboring Essex are currently at the second level or “high alert level”.
Manchester, where the incidence of the virus is currently 449.3 per 100,000 people, is also at this level, although due to the increase in the number of cases, the government wants to move it to ‘very high alert’ as soon as possible.
But talks between Downing Street and local Manchester politicians, aimed at negotiating some sort of deal on the shutdown, ended in bitter disagreement earlier this week.
Sounds pretty standard, what’s Burnham’s problem?
Burnham is not a true conspiracy or Covid theorist and is not against the idea of lockdown in general.
As he himself said during his speech in front of the Manchester Central Library “Yes, we want to control the virus. I have personally said that we may need to look at a national circuit breaker. “
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Source: Guardian News / YouTube
That would be “preferable”, he said, to the current government plan, which he described as a “risky and unfunded regional strategy.”
So simply put, your problem is with the level of support the government has offered Greater Manchester to help businesses survive the strict ‘very high alert’ level restrictions.
With his native Liverpool on the highest alert level, Burnham has also expressed resentment at the treatment of northern England in general.
Speaking to the media outside the library, he said the government has treated the region “with contempt” in recent weeks.
“I think you have to ask the question, at the beginning of the year, when cases were high in London and they hadn’t developed anywhere else, we entered a national lockdown. Now we have that situation in reverse, where cases are high in the north, but are growing elsewhere.
“So why aren’t they applying the same thing to us? I think different rules always apply in the north of England, ”he said.
So what does he want?
Burnham wants the Conservative government to give local businesses an 80% wage subsidy so they can pay staff if they move to the highest level.
This is in line with the payments they received under the original UK ‘license’ system implemented during the first set of lockdown restrictions earlier in the year.
That plan, like our own Temporary Wage Subsidy Plan, has been on the decline since August.
Instead, the UK government has offered to cover 66% of salaries and give affected companies cash grants of up to £ 3,000 a month.
This, Burnham said, “is just not good enough.”
What happens next
Well, no one is quite sure, but Boris Johnson has made it very clear that third-tier restrictions could be unilaterally imposed on Greater Manchester if Burnham doesn’t soften his stance.
Neighboring Lancashire County joined Level 3 on Friday, increasing pressure on local politicians to get something going.
But Burnham is not alone in his disgust at the government’s response and shows no signs of backing down.
Today, he along with the Labor mayors of North Tyne and Liverpool issued a joint statement, doubling down on their calls for increased financial support.
“We are all united in the fight for an 80% license scheme for all people affected by the regional closures, wherever they are in the country,” the statement read.
The government has argued that standard social welfare benefits would ensure that those with the lowest incomes received 90% of their wages.
But mayors have said: “It doesn’t help everyone and it takes weeks to do. It will not prevent serious hardship for thousands of underpaid workers before Christmas. ”
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