GM Mayor won't rule out offering a different message than the PM on lockdown

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham

Mayor for Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said he still has concerns about the message from the government and that he 'won't rule out' giving Greater Manchester a different message than the Prime Minister on the lockdown.

Speaking to Sky's Kay Burley, Mr Burnham said that it would be irresponsible if he defied the Government's message, but he added: "If things change on the ground I would consider giving a more direct message to people in Greater Manchester about staying at home and I would encourage companies to be vigilant as well as public authorities."

Mr Burnham said he doesn't think we're ready for lockdown restrictions to be eased just yet.

His three main concerns are that there's no clear guidance for businesses despite workers being encouraged to go back to work, that the police's job of enforcing the loosening of the rules will become significantly more difficult and that the loss of a single UK message could be really detrimental.

He added: "It feels contradictory and I think the police are going to have difficulties in enforcing it and the worry about that is that then you lose the discipline of the situation that we've been in."

Although he's raising his concerns, Mr Burnham said that we're "going to have to make the best of it."

"We're going to have to remain extremely vigilant and the Government is going to have to be prepared to listen and rethink if necessary," the GM Mayor added.

"This move does not feel like it's been made with the interest of the North West of England in mind.

"We are still at the top of that table for the spread of the virus and I would hope the Government, their experts and scientists will be looking very very closely indeed about what's happening on the ground here in the coming days and they will need to work closely with us.

"They need to put the testing capacity up here, they need to get the contact tracing right here and none of that has been put in place yet. 

"We're going to have to be prepared to rethink if necessary."

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