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‘What a way to run a country’: Leicester mayor attacks government’s delayed decision on lifting lockdown

Review of restrictions imposed on Midlands city at end of June was due today

Andrew Woodcock
Political Editor
Thursday 30 July 2020 18:12 BST
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Coronavirus in numbers

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The mayor of Leicester has accused the government of messing the city about, after a decision on lifting its local lockdown was delayed.

Sir Peter Soulsby voiced his frustration after a planned press conference to announce the outcome of a review was repeatedly postponed, amid reports that the decision might not emerge until Friday.

The lockdown, imposed on 29 June, meant that Leicester did not enjoy the relaxation of restrictions which saw pubs and restaurants reopen under strict social distancing guidelines elsewhere in England on 4 July.

As the city’s spike in coronavirus cases declined, some of the measures were eased, with parts of the area taken out of the local lockdown, and hopes were high that Leicester would be allowed to fall in line with the rest of the country today.

But after several hours of waiting for the announcement, Sir Peter told reporters: “We haven’t got a clue what’s going on. We really haven’t. We’ve been messed about all day.

“They were going to make the announcement much earlier in the day, then they were going to make it around 4pm, then 5pm, and now we understand they’re not even going to discuss it until 6pm.

“What a way to run a country.”

Asked if he was concerned about the uncertainty among the people of Leicester, Sir Peter said: “I’m incredibly frustrated on their behalf.

“I’m particularly frustrated on behalf of the businesses in Leicester because obviously they’ve now had four weeks of extra lockdown.

“They’ve been promised extra support from the secretary of state for health – he’s never delivered on it.

“We’ve had a bit of a whisper that we may be getting a couple of million extra but frankly that’s not going to go anywhere across a city like Leicester.

“After lockdown for an extra four weeks, those businesses are struggling and I’m really angry on their behalf.”

But local Conservative MP Neil O’Brien said the news on the lockdown looked “positive”.

Writing on Twitter, the MP for Oadby and Wigston said: “Sounding positive on Leicester lockdown – hopefully Oadby and Wigston will soon be free to start getting back to normal.”

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