'Is Andy Burnham going to take responsibility for further deaths in Manchester?'

16 October 2020, 15:12

By Sam Sholli

This is the moment a caller questioned whether Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham would take "take the responsibility" for further Covid cases and deaths.

Terri from Camborne called LBC on the same day a furious Andy Burnham said he and other local leaders are "unanimously opposed" to putting the region into the highest tier of restrictions despite having high rates of coronavirus.

"I watched Andy Burnham on the TV and I was just shocked," Terri told LBC presenter Iain Dale while also saying she took issue with his "language" and "tone".

Speaking more broadly about the Covid crisis, she said: "Now it has become a dirty, political, cheap, point-scoring tactic. I just think it is shocking, to be quite honest.

"I think all of the MPs at the moment, they should all be ashamed of themselves."

Nickie Aiken: Businesses are "really feeling it" across the capital

However, Iain noted that he disagreed with the caller's assessment of the Mayor of Greater Manchester.

Iain said: "I'm not sure I agree with you here because I've known Andy Burnham for quite a long time. He's not my politics, but I do respect him and he is quite a passionate person."

He added: "I actually think he genuinely believes [what he is saying]. I don't think it's an act. So I'm not sure I'd be quite as hard on him as you are.

"I'm not sure I agree with him, but that doesn't mean to say he's not entitled to express himself."

Liverpool city centre appears busy as new restrictions come in

Terri responded: "So, at the moment, they're running out of intensive care unit beds [in Manchester]. The hospitals are filling up. They need something drastically urgent to happen. So any further deaths or a higher rise in Manchester, is Andy Burnham now going to take the responsibility for that?"

She added: "I'm not just on about just Labour...All the politicians, while they're busy fighting, people are dying and losing their jobs in between it.

"And I don't think that any of them are actually trying to help this country."

Terri then argued that the debate around the Covid crisis had been taken over by "just two extreme narratives" and that only the Government was "trying to find a balance".

Sadiq Khan worries over people's ‘fatigue’ following covid rules

Terri said: "You've got one extreme that just think that we should not have any lockdowns, just let it rip [and] if people die then so be it.

"And then you've got another extreme that would just keep us locked down in our homes and our houses forever more.

"The only person really that's in the middle is the Government. I mean they're trying to find a balance. Where it is really serious you have to have the brakes on, Iain, because our healthcare just wouldn't exist."