Taking to the Commons on Tuesday, Corbynista Charlotte Nichols MP ranted, “We had absolutely none of the promised engagement over the weekend with our local authority”, attacking the government’s top-down approach to imposing local lockdown restrictions. Nichols was clearly pleased with the attack, clipping it for her social media.
Unfortunately, not only was this not true, her claim has been undermined by none other than her own election agent – and leader of Warrington District Council – Russ Bowden. Speaking at a council meeting yesterday, Bowden was reported to be in a conversation with the local authority’s chief executive, Steve Broomhead, about
“important engagement with the Government last week and at the weekend when Warrington put forward its case not to be in a Tier 3 category”
No one can deny the government’s less-than-smooth handling of local lockdowns, however it’s clear Labour is trying to make a mountain out of a molehill when claiming No. 10 are taking their new blue wall heartland for granted…
UPDATE: Charlotte gets in touch with a message from Russ Bowden to her on the 11th October saying “We have had no contact or dialogue this weekend”.
Unfortunately for Russ, Guido’s now got hold of the video of him at yesterday’s council meeting in which he clearly states:
“You’ve already mentioned about the government conversations we’ve had… and it’s important that we recognise we’re having that engagement with the government”
Before Russ spoke, the council chief executive Steve Broomhead also said “we had civil discussion with government over the weekend and earlier in the week”. Guido will let readers watch the clips and make up their own minds as to what the truth of the matter is…
