Sadiq Khan says 10pm curfew 'isn't working' and calls for 'rapid review'

15 October 2020, 16:21 | Updated: 15 October 2020, 16:51

Sadiq Khan tells LBC he is challenging 10 pm curfew which "doesn't work"

Sadiq Khan has told LBC the 10pm curfew 'isn't working' and said he has asked the government to 'rapidly review' the policy.

Speaking to Shelagh Fogarty, the Mayor of London said he understands the "intentions" behind the curfew but that it has not had the desired effect and must be reviewed.

"My view is that the 10pm curfew isn't working," he explained.

"The intention was a good one, to try and reduce the amount of time people spend in each other's company. But what's happened is people are leaving at 10pm and continuing to mix and mingle on the pavements outside.

"That's why I've asked the government to rapidly review the 10pm curfew."

His comments come after it was announced London is set to move into Tier 2 of the government's coronavirus restrictions from midnight on Friday.

Moving from "medium" up to "high" now sees the nine million people living in the capital banned from mixing with other households indoors, including in pubs and restaurants.

The capital, along with Essex, Elmbridge, Barrow-in-Furness, York, North East Derbyshire, Erewash and Chesterfield will move into the second tier of measures.

Speaking to Shelagh about the decision to move London into Tier 2, Mr Khan said: "I want there to be no ambiguity here, there are no good options.

"When you look at the advice from SAGE, they want a short national circuit breaker, but the government are not talking about this."

However, he explained that in his view, Tier 2 is necessary for the capital in the absence of a circuit breaker lockdown.

"In the absence of that, the least worst option for London is to go into Tier 2 and reduce the mingling in households.

"I'm not enthusiastically jumping into Tier 2 but all the factors we have indicate that we need to do some things to slow the spread down."

Read more: When does London's tier two lockdown start and what are the new restrictions?

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"We have come to the conclusion through cross party agreement with leaders across London and the government that by going from Tier 1 to Tier 2 we can slow down the spread of the virus," he said.

"But the key thing is for the government to use this opportunity to sort out the test and trace system."

When asked what could cause the capital to enter Tier 3, the mayor said: "We know from conversations between northern mayors and the government the sort of things the government are looking at to make those decisions.

"We're not there, and we don't want to be there.

"That's why it's so important to follow the new rules from tomorrow."

"We need to identify the route of the transmission of this virus. If there was effective contact tracing we could work this out.

"However, it is currently around 60%, it needs to be more like 80% to know how people are catching the virus."