Five things learned from Andy Burnham and Sadiq Khan at the Covid Inquiry

Sadiq Khan told the Covid Inquiry that Boris Johnson was endangering lives by wavering on a full lockdown in March 2020 (Photo: UK Covid-19 Inquiry/PA); Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham giving evidence at the inquiry at Dorland House in London (Photo: UK Covid-19 Inquiry/PA)

Mayors have expressed their anger at being locked out of key discussions and political decision-making during the pandemic, as the Covid Inquiry explored its impact on English regions on Monday.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham both claimed they were forced to wage “media battles” to get the Government to listen to them during the pandemic after being excluded from consultations affecting their cities.

During one heated exchange, Mr Burnham said it was “unbelievable” that Matt Hancock, the former health secretary, slapped Manchester with the toughest Covid restrictions in autumn 2020 despite knowing they wouldn’t work.

He claimed the measures were a “punishment” after Mr Burnham demanded better furlough pay for people in Manchester forced to stay home due to Covid.

Steve Rotheram, the Mayor for Liverpool, also revealed he had to have 24-hour police protection at one stage during the pandemic after last-minute decision-making by ministers stoked anger and confusion among the public.

Here are five things we learned from the mayors in their evidence to the inquiry on Monday:

Mayors first heard about regional restrictions in the news

All three regional mayors claimed they first learned about major Covid updates affecting their cities after seeing them in the news. Mr Burnham told the inquiry he learned about fresh lockdown restrictions in the North while checking the news on his phone during a 20th wedding anniversary celebration with his wife. He said a newspaper was running the headline “Pubs to close in North of England,” though the update “had not been mentioned” in a meeting with ministers two days earlier. Meanwhile, Mr Rotheram said Liverpool leaders “weren’t even informed” that people travelling from Wuhan in February 2020 were going “going to travel through our area” to quarantine at nearby Arrowe Park Hospital. Asked when he first found out that Liverpool could be directly exposed to Covid, he said: “On the news.” Mr Khan also revealed that officials were “reading each other’s positions in newspapers” as communications broke down. The three regional mayors claimed the pattern was symptomatic of being locked out of key discussions during the pandemic including initial Cobra meetings.

Boris Johnson ‘still hadn’t decided’ on first national lockdown day before it was announced

Mr Khan claimed that former prime minister Boris Johnson was still not convinced that a full national lockdown was the best option for the country the day before the first shutdown was announced. The Mayor of London said that on 22 March, the day before Mr Johnson told people to stay at home, the former prime minister was concerned about the “great economic cost” of a lockdown. The inquiry was shown minutes from a phone call between the pair, in which Mr Johnson is alleged to have said that “if there is a better trade off, we can’t just completely screw up the economy”. Mr Khan claimed it was his view that the former Prime Minister had not yet decided on a full lockdown, and that he felt it was his duty to convince Mr Johnson one was needed. The inquiry was also shown a letter from the Mayor of London to the former Prime Minister following the phone call, warning that he would tell Londoners himself that they should act as if a lockdown were in place if Mr Johnson did not announce one. Mr Khan said failure to act would mean “the lives of thousands of people are endangered”.

Ministers ‘punished’ Manchester for demanding better furlough pay

In the most dramatic moment of the day, Mr Burnham expressed his outrage that ministers had plunged Manchester into Tier 3 restrictions in October 2020 despite knowing it would do nothing to prevent the spread of infections. The Manchester Mayor described Matt Hancock’s written testimony to the inquiry as “unbelievable” and said he had “only now” realised the former health secretary knowingly imposed ineffective restrictions on Manchester. Quoting from written evidence from Mr Hancock to the inquiry, Mr Burnham said: “He says in his evidence about Tier 3, ‘I was in despair that we had announced a policy that we knew would not work.’” Mr Burnham accused the Government of dealing a “punishment beating” for the city in late 2020 while imposing lighter restrictions on regions such as Lancashire because Manchester’s leaders had demanded better furlough pay. “Because we stood up for people in our city region who would have otherwise really struggled… because we took that stand they decided to make an example of us,” he told the inquiry.

Covid decisions were ‘London-centric’

Mr Burnham claimed there was a wider “London-centricity in decision making” that meant lockdown restrictions were lifted in May 2020 when the north of England was still near the peak of the first virus wave. He claimed it meant “Greater Manchester was left stuck with a high case rate for the rest of 2020,” adding that the situation was “miserable” for the city for most of the year. He also accused Mr Johnson of being “unaware” that Manchester had been under tough restrictions for three months when ministers were discussing imposing even stricter lockdown measures on the region in October 2020. Mr Burnham told the inquiry: “He was saying ‘we just need you to agree to these Tier 3 restrictions and the package of support’ and I said ‘well, we can’t – it’s not enough. You know, we’ve been under restrictions for a long time.’ He said: ‘What do you mean?’ I said: ‘We’ve been under restriction since July. You do know about that, don’t you?’”

Liverpool Mayor had to have 24-hour security

Mr Rotheram revealed he needed 24-hour police protection after Mr Johnson announced the area would be placed under Tier 3 pandemic restrictions. The Liverpool Mayor said he had previously agreed with the former Prime Minister that they should work together on announcing the move in autumn 2020 because of the importance of public co-operation. But Mr Rotheram said later that same day Mr Johnson announced the restrictions “without any notification to me”. He said it meant his “Twitter literally blew up”, resulting in the chief constable “having to post 24-hour security” after the mayor was hit with “thousands of posts” including threats over his safety.