Boris Johnson’s inept handling of the pandemic has risked undermining his claim to level up the country’s poorest regions and forced him to ask local leaders for help
Boris Johnson’s decision to give English local councils and metro mayors a role in suppressing the spread of coronavirus is a small step in the right direction. Mr Johnson has been outpaced by the virus for months while touting plans to defeat the disease. None have worked, which is why he is having to ask local leaders for help. The government now says every part of the country will be placed into one of three tiers of coronavirus restrictions – medium, high alert or very high alert – depending on the rate of infection. Crucially, local authorities who agree to a government designation receive a financial package to boost local public health systems and to ensure that they can quarantine people who test positive.
This makes sense as compliance with isolation is critical to stopping the disease’s spread and local politicians know their patches better than those in London. England is the most centralised democracy in the western world. There is a small window of opportunity for a more devolved system to work. The scheme requires improving. The chancellor’s U-turn last Friday over reinstating a version of the furlough scheme has not gone far enough. Companies hit by stricter local restrictions rather than shutdown will need more help, as will lower paid workers, and there will have to be assistance for the self-employed left without income through no fault of their own.
