A COUNCIL leader is urging his residents to ignore government advice on coronavirus — and still stay at home.
Labour chief Martin Gannon has led a revolt over Whitehall’s Stay Alert message, saying the R rate in his region is twice that of London.
He said: “We haven’t got the same powers as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
“If I did I would be saying I’m doing exactly what they are doing in Scotland.”
The “extremely concerned” Gateshead leader called the easing of the lockdown “reckless”.
He added:”The R rate in the North East of England I’m told is twice the rate of London and we have significant numbers of deaths, our hospitals are still busy, so therefore I’m extremely concerned.
“I think what the Government is doing nationally is reckless.
“It may be OK in some of the leafy suburbs, it may be alright in some of the rural villages, but it is not OK in Gateshead.
“We understand our people, we understand what is going on here and I think we should advise our people accordingly.”
‘NO TIME FOR PARTY POLITICS’
Tory Richard Holden, whose Durham North West constituency borders Gateshead, said: “It’s not the time to be playing party politics in a health crisis.
“It is crucial we are singing from the same hymn sheet.”
“I think it is really dangerous for political local authority leaders to start issuing their own advice on the basis of no evidence.
“My constituency borders Gateshead which means people on one side of the road are getting different advice from the other which is deeply worrying to me.”
WHAT WALES IS DOING
It came as Wales’ lockdown exit plan will not be given a time frame.
Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford outlined a “traffic light road map”, to ease restrictions.
The three stages – red, amber and green – would each see a “cautious” lifting of measures which would apply to schools, businesses and general freedoms.
But unlike in England, they gave no approximate dates for when the changed would be made.
Mr Drakeford said: “We debated hard whether it was sensible to provide dates and time zones.”
He said the first zone, red, would be “not very different to lockdown but it will be the first cautious step.”
