Coronavirus strategy too nationally driven, say mayors

The mayors of Greater Manchester and Liverpool city region have called on ministers to take a ‘much more locally focused’ response to the coronavirus crisis.

Andy Burnham said he did not want to gratuitously criticise central government but said its focus had been ‘very, very nationally driven’ and was creating problems in the regions.  He has stressed that the recovery has got to be ‘much more locally driven’. Alongside other regional mayors, including Liverpool’s Steve Rotheram and Andy Street of the West Midlands, Burnham has urged for the eight metro mayors to be given a seat at the table of the government’s Cobra meetings, alongside the London Mayor Sadiq Khan and leaders of the devolved nations.

The former Labour leadership candidate said Whitehall-focused decision-making was creating issues locally, such as a drive-through testing facility for NHS staff that was opened at Manchester airport – miles from the region’s major hospitals.

Together, the eight regional metro mayors represent nearly 12 million people in England.

One issue that they have all faced is that of PPE supply. In Greater Manchester, the only region that has devolved healthcare powers, Burnham established a PPE taskforce that has ordered 19 million pieces of essential kit to hospitals and care homes and has so far delivered 4.8 million, with a further 5.2 million due to arrive in the next seven days. He said the shortage of PPE would have been a ‘much bigger problem’ if the region had not sourced its own equipment.

Other metro mayors, including Rotheram and Street have also launched local appeals for the supply of PPE amid frustration with the government’s ‘priority drops’ system.