Amid the confusion over the Covid restrictions in areas with surging cases of the Indian variant (Bolton, Kirklees, Bedford, Burnley, Leicester, Hounslow and North Tyneside), Andy Burnham was keen to jump in front of a camera to restart his war with Whitehall this afternoon, saying:

“There will be a concern out there today that this is a local lockdown by stealth…or to the reintroduction of the tier system…we do not wish to see any return to local lockdowns, we do not believe that they worked. We believe that the situation in 2021, the context, is different to the one that we had in 2020. And we believe that that should be made clear as well…it’s important that this is cleared up, and cleared up very quickly indeed…”

Burnham’s obviously never camera-shy, though to be fair, the new rules in these areas haven’t exactly been well-explained. Even local Tory MP Jake Berry claimed on Politics Live that he found out about the new guidance – to limit travel in the surging areas, including Berry’s own constituency – from the media rather than from government. According to Nadhim Zahawi, people living in these areas can still travel in and out, though the official government advice is to avoid it “unless it is essential.” Looks like the government wants to implement a voluntary local lockdown without the backlash of actually committing to one…