A local lockdown in the Manchester metropolitan region is delayed due to bickering over financial compensation by the British government to entrepreneurs in the area.
Money has been negotiated all weekend while corona numbers are “dangerously high,” the BBC writes.
England recently introduced a new system with stricter measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Three alert levels have been created (medium, high and very high), accompanied by specific measures, including the closure of pubs and gyms.
Until now, only in Liverpool and Lancashire, the alarm phase is ‘very high’, but the city of Manchester, located east of Liverpool, also has an alarming number of infections.
Manchester, like Liverpool and Lancashire, wants to receive tens of millions to support the companies but is demanding more money than the government has released.
Liverpool and Lancashire received around 40 million pounds (44 million euros), but Manchester wants a relatively higher amount. The city wants to continue to pay employees 80 percent of their wages, instead of the two-thirds that has now been agreed.
The lockdown is, therefore delayed. Robert Jenrick, the politician responsible for local government policy, is concerned about this. “I’m afraid that delay will only make the situation worse, endanger human lives and that the long-term economic consequences for the city will only be greater.”
On Sunday, The Guardian discovered in leaked documents that there would be a short term shortage of hospital beds in the Manchester city region. Still, according to Jenrick, it may take another day or two before an agreement is reached.