Sadiq Khan slams ‘unacceptable’ London lockdown plans
London mayor Sadiq Khan has hit out at Boris Johnson after the Prime Minister reportedly discussed drastic contingency plans to lockdown London in event of a second coronavirus wave without involving City Hall.
One of the options discussed by Johnson as part of a “war gaming” session with chancellor Rishi Sunak was using the M25 as a quarantine ring, according to the Sunday Times.
The capital’s mayor responded today with a sharp letter addressed to Johnson.
‘A clear affront to Londoners’
In it, Khan said making such plans without including local leaders “is totally unacceptable and a clear affront to London and Londoners”.
The mayor accused Johnson of “riding roughshod” over locally elected officials. He also said the approach would lead to worse outcomes for London and the country.
Khan added that it was 12 weeks since he had been invited to the government’s emergency COBR committee to represent London.
“Decisions continue to be taken without consultation with those who run and understand the country’s biggest city”, he wrote.
“Some of these decisions – and the public messaging that flows from them – do not work for a major metropolitan area the size of London.
“The government would better understand that, if London’s government was treated properly and brought into decision-making,” he went on.
Khan came down hard on the government’s handling of the crisis thus far. He said “time and time” again it had acted too slowly or made the wrong call.
Khan cited the treatment of transport operator Transport for London (TfL), which received a £1.6bn bailout in May, as one such example.
A Downing Street spokesman said that the government’s virus containment strategy had set out that shutting down local transport networks was an option,
“One of the purposes of the contain strategy was to make politicians and the public aware of the steps that we might need to take in the future, if we were dealing with a specific local outbreak”, he said.
What would a London lockdown involve?
A number of London lockdown measures were reportedly discussed at last Wednesday’s planning session.
Measures being considered include banning overnight stays and telling people not to travel in and out of the capital, the Sunday Times reported.
Other London lockdown measures being mooted include “personalised risk scores” for people aged between 50 and 70. Such a move would add to the 2.2m most vulnerable Brits already being forced to shield during lockdown.
The session came as fears continue to rise over a second wave of coronavirus. So far it has killed nearly 50,000 people in the UK.
Last Thursday large swathes of Greater Manchester, west Yorkshire and east Lancashire went back into a form of lockdown after a surge in cases.
Downing Street sources dismissed yesterday’s claims as “speculative”. Housing secretary Robert Jenrick said he was not aware of any plans to place London back in lockdown.
However, the government has repeatedly stressed that it will take all actions it deems necessary to try to prevent a spike in cases.