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Matt Hancock “punished” the people of Manchester with the most severe Covid restrictions during the pandemic because of a political row over furlough cash, the city’s mayor Andy Burnham said on Monday.
Mr Burnham told the Covid Inquiry it was “nothing short of disgraceful” that the former health secretary chose to impose tier three restrictions on Greater Manchester in October 2020 despite being told it “would not work”.
“We heard the chief medical officer say the tier three restrictions would have little effect,” he said during a heated exchange at the inquiry.
“It makes me angry on behalf of the people of Greater Manchester that [ministers] sat in that room and they imposed a policy that they had been advised by Sage and others would not work.”
Mr Burnham said Mr Hancock’s written testimony to the inquiry was “unbelievable” as he read out an excerpt provided by the former health secretary saying: “I was in despair that we had announced a policy that we knew would not work.”
He said it showed ministers had decided to slap Manchester with a “punishment” while letting other regions like Lancashire have lighter restrictions because it had “showed willingness” to cooperate with financial demands.
“Because we stood up for people in our city region who would have otherwise really struggled… because we took that stand they decided to make an example of us,” said Mr Burnham.
Mr Hancock will give evidence to the inquiry later this week.
This story is being updated