‘Patience is starting to run thin’: Anger rises to the surface after Leicester lockdown extended

The continuation of restrictions is proving a tough pill to swallow for Leicester, with local residents and leaders reacting angrily to the government’s latest announcement

After two long weeks under lockdown, there is to be no respite for some of Leicester – not just yet. Another fortnight of restrictions beckons for the city and its people. Beyond that, who knows what lies in store for this corner of the country.

“I’m fed up, really fed up,” says Sylvia Beynon, a resident of Oadby. The borough, along with Wigston and Leicester itself, is set to remain in lockdown due to its high incidence of cases – yet neighbouring areas have been given the green light to finally lift certain measures from 24 July.

“It’s not fair, it really isn’t. I’m just so upset and angry,” adds Ms Beynon. “I think we’re being hung out to dry. We’re all doing exactly what we’re supposed to do. We’re getting the tests, we’re following the rules, we’re doing what’s been asked of us. People’s patience is starting to run thin.”

Against mounting anger on the ground, the government has made its position and approach clear. Addressing the House of Commons on Thursday, health secretary Matt Hancock said the continuation of the lockdown was “vital for the health of everyone in Leicester”.

The latest figures indicate that the virus certainly hasn’t subsided within the city. According to Mr Hancock, the current seven-day infection rate now stands at 119 cases per 100,000 people – down from 135 when the prolonged lockdown was first announced. Progress, but as Mr Hancock added, there is “still a lot to do”.

There are some small comforts to look forward to, though. From 24 July, restrictions on some non-essential shops and early years childcare will be lifted, while those outside of the reduced lockdown boundary will be allowed to enjoy the freedoms currently available to the rest of the country.

But for those caught inside the city’s hotspots, there’s no suggestion yet as to when restaurants, pubs and bars will reopen, leaving Leicester’s hospitality sector vulnerable to further economic damage and decay.

“Many small businesses in Leicester are going to struggle to survive during this additional period of lockdown; they certainly need additional help from the government,” Nigel Porter, the city’s only Liberal Democrat councillor, tells The Independent.

However, he stressed that “putting the economy ahead of health” risked endangering the local population. “At the end of the day the priority has to be to get on top of the virus and until the number of positive cases in Leicester starts to drop the city will remain in lockdown.”

While other local leaders have accepted that the city “cannot return to business as usual”, as Leicester East MP Claudia Webbe wrote on Twitter, Sir Peter Soulsby held few punches in his response to the government’s latest announcement.

The local mayor accused the health secretary of a politically-motivated attempt to penalise the city and its economy, and claimed that data provided to city officials showed that only 10 per cent of Leicester transmission rates were higher than the national average.

As a result, Sir Peter questioned why the whole of Leicester needed to remain in lockdown.

“What they have chosen to do now is not to focus on the areas of the city where the virus is and where we actually need to be putting our attention,” Sir Peter said on Thursday.

“If they were going to alter the boundary, they should have gone down to the area that they now know where the virus is. They have left two areas in there – one that has a Liberal Democrat council, the other that has a Labour mayor.

“The fact is they have focused in a way that is clearly party political and that’s not a way to deal with the virus.”

The mayor’s comments have been met with a mixed reaction among locals, but they nonetheless point to a fraying relationship between Whitehall and Leicester City Council.

Of course, Sir Peter is not alone in his criticism of the government. Kamlesh Khunti, a member of the Independent Sage board and a professor of vascular medicine at the University of Leicester, told The Independent that even now, after weeks of awareness around the city’s issues, local public health authorities are “still not getting data quickly enough”.

“Local teams need to be more involved too,” he says. “This needs to be all localised. We know all the networks, the shopkeepers, the faith centres, we know the business community. These are the people who can influence what happens.

“It has been a complete shock to us. We’re a proud city and this has not been good for anyone here. It’s not good for the community, for our businesses or our universities.”

He said that although he was saddened by Thursday’s news, he was not necessarily surprised, explaining that an increase in targeted testing across the city’s most infected areas would be reflected in the statistics.

“We will identify more patients if we continue doing more tests, especially in this high risk population. Worryingly this strategy may continue our city having high rates for quite a few weeks with disastrous consequences.

“The high rates are not because people aren’t socially distancing - they’re all doing that has been asked of them over the last few weeks. This is why our local people are shocked, frustrated and angry.”

Understandably, the continuation of lockdown is proving a tough pill to swallow for Leicester – especially compared to the soft-touch approach adopted by authorities in Blackburn with Darwen, where residents have been urged to limit the number of visitors to their homes and to wear face coverings in enclosed public settings after a recent spike in cases.

“We were never given that opportunity,” says Jon Porter, a resident in Wigston, which has reported the second highest number of infections across all of Leicestershire.

“Why wasn’t Leicester given that opportunity? Why weren’t we warned early on that Leicester is struggling? That was when we should have acted and introduce localised measures, like Blackburn. We weren’t told and now it’s too late.”