Coronavirus: Northern leaders’ fury at Boris Johnson, as Downing Street refuses to confirm details of coming lockdown restrictions

Boris Johnson is facing a wave of fury from regional leaders over the announcement of new coronavirus restrictions expected to close pubs and restaurants across swathes of northern England next week.

The escalation of measures to slow the spread of the virus came as MPs were shown shocking new figures suggesting that the number of serious cases requiring intensive care will top the April peak within 22 days unless urgent action is taken.

Health secretary Matt Hancock said the national was at a “perilous” moment in the pandemic and he was “very worried” about local spikes in cases, which have reached 689 per 100,000 population in Nottingham and 578 in Liverpool.

But there was confusion about expected shutdown orders for hospitality premises, with Downing Street insisting that ministers are still “considering a range of options”. A leaked paper indicating that any new restrictions will not take effect until next Wednesday has raised the prospect of a “last fling” for drinkers this weekend.

Northern mayors queued up to criticise ministers for failing to brief them on their plans, with Greater Manchester’s Andy Burnham warning that Mr Johnson had “lost the dressing room” and could no longer simply impose measures from London.

MPs from all sides of the Commons expressed concern in a video briefing with chief medical officer Chris Whitty over proposals which could see blanket restrictions implemented across large areas on a three-tier system based on infection rates, regardless of local circumstances.

Prof Whitty displayed slides showing that if Covid-19 was allowed to spread at current rates, numbers of patients in intensive care units would reach levels last seen at the height of the first wave in 22 days in the northeast and Yorkshire and 23 days in the northwest.

But there was frustration among MPs that they were given no clarity on the measures  planned for their constituencies, supposedly signed off by Mr Johnson at a “gold command” meeting on Wednesday evening.

Some questioned evidence suggesting that those testing positive for Covid were twice as likely to have dined out in the previous fortnight, which was based on evidence in the US where mitigation measures are very different. 

And others said that figures pointing to hospitality venues as a major site for transmission of the disease did not cover other likely locations for infection like the home, workplace, health settings or universities – all of which the government wants to keep open.

The prime minister’s official spokesperson refused to confirm apparently well-sourced reports suggesting that new restrictions in top-tier areas – such as Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle – will see pubs, restaurants and cafes closed down from next week, with leisure venues and hairdressers also likely to be shut.

Middle tier areas, mostly in the Midlands and north, would have simplified versions of current local lockdown restrictions, while the bottom tier would continue under national measures such as the “rule of six” and 10pm hospitality curfew.

“The position is that we are seeing coronavirus cases rise across the entire country but they are rising faster in the northeast and northwest,” said the PM’s spokesperson. “We are keeping the data under close review and considering a range of options to reduce the spread of the virus in order to protect communities and protect the NHS.”

Effectively confirming there would be no announcement before Monday, he added: “If there is anything new to set out in terms of our approach to local lockdown measures, then that will be done in parliament.”

A leaked government document obtained by the Nottingham Post indicated that the new restrictions will be formally announced on Monday but not come into effect until Wednesday, with the Midlands city placed in the middle tier.

With just days to go to the expected imposition of tight restrictions on anything up to 10 million people, the leader of Nottingham City Council, David Mellen, voiced fears that the government’s decision to trail the changes almost a week before their official announcement could encourage individuals to “get out and party” this weekend in their last chance before Christmas. 

Nottingham South MP Lilian Greenwood said the delay to next week was “reckless and indefensible, putting residents’ health at risk”.

And Sheffield’s elected mayor Dan Jarvis said it was “recklessly irresponsible to brief the papers but not leaders in the north who’ll somehow have to make this work”.

“Get a grip, Boris Johnson,” he said.

England’s eight metro mayors spoke with Mr Hancock on Monday and local government secretary Robert Jenrick on Wednesday but were given no details of the planned package of restrictions or how the tier system would work.

Mr Burnham said there had been “no discussion, no consultation. Millions of lives affected by Whitehall diktat. It is proving impossible to deal with this government”.

He also told BBC Radio 4’s World at One: “I have tried all along to work with them, but I will not any more put up with a situation where they impose things on the north of England that will cause real damage to people’s lives.”

A total of 3,412 people are currently in hospital with Covid-19 following a spike in admissions over the past seven days, while more than 17,000 new cases were recorded across the UK on Thursday.

Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, said the figures were “very worrying”.

“Trust chief executives across the northwest, northeast and Yorkshire are telling us that Covid-related hospital admissions are rapidly rising as well,” he said.

“We need prompt action to prevent a full-blown second Covid surge. We need to make difficult decisions now, rather than later, when it may be too late.”

Projections by Public Health England, seen by the Manchester Evening News, suggest that hospitals in Greater Manchester could be recording roughly 240 new Covid admissions a day by the end of October.

A separate briefing document prepared by officials at Blackburn with Darwen Council, leaked to the Health Service Journal, predicts that the northwest region as a whole could have around 3,000 Covid patients in hospital over the next “17 to 22 days”, rising to 6,000 in 30-35 days if no action is taken to rein the R rate of reinfections.

Currently, NHS hospitals are admitting around 450 new patients with Covid-19 across the UK each day, around 200 of those in the northwest, northeast and Yorkshire. 

Telling health leaders that the situation was becoming “very serious”, Mr Hancock said that the government strategy was simple, to “suppress the virus – supporting the economy, education and the NHS – until a vaccine can make us safe”.

Mr Jenrick all but confirmed that hospitality will bear the brunt of new restrictions, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today: “It is commonsensical that, with a virus that’s transmitted through human contact, the longer one spends with individuals in indoor settings, in a pub or a restaurant, the more likely it is that we spread the virus.”

He signalled that financial support will be offered: “There is support in place, but I completely understand that we may well need to go further because those businesses will be placed in a really difficult, intolerable position if they are asked to do more.”

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is understood to be considering further compensation for those feeling the economic impact.

Liverpool City Region’s mayor Steve Rotheram said “local furlough schemes, business grants and financial support for the self-employed and those who cannot work from home” will be needed in areas where tighter lockdown measures are imposed.

Asked if there could be a new furlough scheme for areas under restrictions, Mr Johnson’s spokesperson said: “If we do have to take further steps, of course we will take seriously how we can support those businesses who are affected.

“Any decisions we take will not be made lightly. Protecting jobs, particularly the two million in the UK’s hospitality sector, has been a priority throughout our response to the pandemic.”