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Former footballer Gary Neville has criticized Labor’s decision to abstain in a vote on coronavirus restrictions, saying: “You are the opposition, do not sit on the rostrum.”
“They sat in the stands while the home team had a clear race,” Neville told Sophy Ridge on Sunday in reference to last Tuesday’s vote on the new government tiered system. COVID-19 rules.
The former Manchester United and England star was speaking to Sky News about the campaign he launched to gain more financial support for businesses during the pandemic.
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Neville has helped establish UnitedCity, which aims to get Manchester “back on its feet” in supporting retail, leisure, cultural and sports businesses during the coronavirus crisis.
Neville said the Labor Party is “there to protect the underprivileged and vulnerable” and that not enough financial support has been provided, “which means you have to take a stand, be bold and go against it.”
He continued: “You can’t abstain and that’s where the people of Manchester right now I think they are frustrated by the lack of leadership in, I suppose, to protect Manchester residents and the most affected communities.”
Neville added: “So when you are elected and you are in that seat in Westminster, you take a position, you don’t abstain, you participate in the party, you are the opposition.”
Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer said his party had “serious misgivings” about the tiered system, but rejecting them “would not be in the national interest.”
When asked about Neville’s criticism, Labor shadow Home Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds told Ridge: “We didn’t sit in the stands, what we did was act in the national interest.”
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He said that the party “accepted” that there should be measures, but since there was no “comprehensive health and economic strategy” alongside them, “they were not at a level where we could offer them our unconditional support and that is why we made the decision to abstain “.
Neville also criticized the government during his interview, describing them as “out of his league.”
“I have no doubt how difficult it has been in the last eight to 10 months in office, I have no doubt,” Neville said.
“They are unique circumstances and I was there when I was the leader of a soccer club for four months in Valencia and it was out of my reach and I was spinning and I had to jump off the roundabout because in the end, I was out of my depth and I didn’t know what he was doing.
“That is how I feel in the last eight months that I have seen in the leadership of this country.”
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When asked if he thought the government felt out of reach, he replied: “They are out of his depth, out of his depth.”
Speaking about the situation in Manchester, which faced additional restrictions months before the tiered system was introduced, Neville said: “We have financial problems, we have health problems, we have mental health problems, there is a lack of understanding of how we are doing.” going to come out of it, uncertainty.
“We just feel that the business community in Manchester has always been resilient, the people of Manchester have always come together to get out of a crisis like this before and it’s about time we started thinking about what the future looks like.”
Neville, who has been in real estate development since he retired and also works as an expert at Sky Sports, co-owns the Stock Exchange Hotel in central Manchester with his former teammate Ryan Giggs.
The couple also have plans to build a 40-story tower in the city that will include another luxury hotel, as well as apartments and offices.
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Neville said that “the entire hospitality sector has been devastated” by COVID-19 and more financial support is needed.
“There will need to be a good wind with us,” he said.
“We certainly can’t keep going in and out of tiers the way we do or else it’s total devastation to people’s livelihoods.”
Neville said he has no problem with the coronavirus measures because “health must be the priority, but said that” the lack of support and the lack of planning is the big problem.
