Bradford, Calderdale and Kirklees council leaders slam Government's 'confused and bungled' messaging on West Yorkshire local lockdown

By Abbey Maclure
Published 27th Aug 2020, 15:43 BST
Updated 27th Aug 2020, 15:44 BST
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now
The Government’s messaging on local coronavirus restrictions has been “confused and bungled”, council leaders in West Yorkshire have said.

The leaders of Bradford, Calderdale and Kirklees have joined their counterparts in Greater Manchester in criticising proposals to tackle the virus on a ward-by-ward basis.

The local authority areas were put into lockdown due to a spike in coronavirus cases.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The measures were announced at 9.15pm on Thursday, July 30 and implemented from midnight the following day.

Halifax in Calderdale, one of three West Yorkshire areas put into lockdown due to a spike in coronavirus casesHalifax in Calderdale, one of three West Yorkshire areas put into lockdown due to a spike in coronavirus cases
Halifax in Calderdale, one of three West Yorkshire areas put into lockdown due to a spike in coronavirus cases

Another announcement on restrictions in parts of Greater Manchester, Lancashire and West Yorkshire is due to be made on Friday after Thursday’s meeting of the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) chaired by Health Secretary Matt Hancock and England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty.

Read More
Where does Leeds end and Bradford begin? Council clears up confusion over West Y...

Last week, Mr Hancock announced a more targeted approach to Covid-19 restrictions in which the views of MPs would also be sought to gain “the maximum possible local consensus”.

He added this would allow local councils to focus resources on the wards which need more targeted intervention in order to drive infection rates down.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad
Bradford is under local lockdownBradford is under local lockdown
Bradford is under local lockdown

In a statement, councillors Susan Hinchcliffe, Tim Swift and Shabir Pandor, the leaders of Bradford, Calderdale and Kirklees respectively, said: “Our infection rates have come down significantly this week, although they are still high.

“Over the last few months and weeks we, as leaders, have taken difficult decisions and directed significant resource in our councils to make this happen. However, throughout this time Government messaging has been confused and bungled.

“The latest shift in Government messaging that happened last week was that they inferred they wanted to see more localised restrictions, varying them ward by ward rather than by local authority areas.

“To add to the confusion, Government want to review and change these place by place weekly, leading to inconsistency in restrictions across the North. In the latest guidance from Government there is a presumption that wards with a low number of cases will start to revert to the national restrictions this week.

Hide Ad