The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has accused the Prime Minister of “riding roughshod” over democratically-elected local council leaders by excluding them from lockdown discussions.
Mr Khan wrote to Mr Johnson to express his “great surprise” that the Government plans to use the M25 to seal off the capital if there is a spike in Covid-19 infections.
Mr Khan also claimed that it had been 12 weeks since he was last invited to a Cobra meeting on the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr Khan’s comments came after it was revealed at the weekend that Mr Johnson held a “war game” session with Chancellor Rishi Sunak on Wednesday last week to run through possible options in the event of an apparent second wave of covid-19.
In his letter to the Prime Minister jointly signed by Peter John, chair of London councils, Mr Khan wrote: “It is with great surprise that we read in the Sunday papers that the Government held a critical exercise last week in which a major resurgence in Covid-19 infections in London was a central scenario,
“The plans included using the M25 as a quarantine ring — effectively sealing off the city. Our surprise is that such far-reaching contingency plans have been discussed and tested without the involvement or awareness of London’s government.”
He continued: “This is clearly totally unacceptable and an affront to London and Londoners.”
The letter also claimed the Government had been slow to make decisions or has taken the wrong decisions “time and again throughout this crisis”.
It added: “This must stop.
“Riding roughshod over democratically elected representatives who understand their communities better than central Government will lead to worse outcomes for Londoners, and the country as a whole.”
In response to this, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “It’s not a new thing, it’s there and it’s in the document,
“The Contain Strategy doesn’t reference specific locations but it set out the possibility of a power to close down local transport networks. There are discussions between TfL and the Government on the future direction and those sorts of issues.”
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Editor-in-Chief | Carl D. Pearson has been involved in British politics and media from an early age, with the key knowledge of what it takes to run a news organisation for the 21st century. Mr Pearson, as Editor-in-chief, is responsible for supervising the daily tasks of publishing media and content to UNN’s website and various platforms.
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