Trafford councillor: Restrictions "should have remained" to avoid longer lockdown
29 August 2020, 13:19
Councillor Andrew Western on Trafford lockdown easing
The leader of Trafford Council warned that the easing of restrictions in the area has come one or two weeks premature, and could have longer lasting implications.
Andrew Western was speaking to Tom Swarbrick after the government overruled the decision of Trafford Council to keep lockdown restrictions in place and eased lockdown in the area.
"The majority of the view of politicians cross-party in Trafford was that these restrictions should have remained," said Mr Western.
Tom wondered what Mr Western would encourage parents to do, as schools are set to reopen next week.
He urged residents to send their children back to school, noting "that is the safest place for them."
"The reason we didn't want to lift local restrictions at this time was because we wanted to see children back in school safely first.
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"The timing of this is far from ideal but look - we all want to see the restrictions lifted, we absolutely appreciate the sacrifices people have made," said the Labour council leader.
He explained to Tom that he and the council were trying to avoid "a position where we end up, because we didn't wait a week or two...a longer lockdown in the medium term."
Tom made the point that according to numbers, 19 of 21 wards in Trafford have no Covid-19 cases, telling Mr Western "that feels low."
The councillor argued that statistics can be easily manipulated, and revealed that "there is no ward in Trafford that has not had a confirmed coronavirus case in the last two weeks."
