‘NO WAY BORIS’ – UK PM faces angry revolt from Northern cities over plans to extend the coronavirus lockdown

Boris Johnson is facing an angry revolt from northern cities over his plans to keep some in coronavirus lockdown longer than others.

UNDER the PM’s blueprint to end the nation’s virtual house arrest, the whole nation will see the tough restrictions begin to be eased at the same time, with the end of May targeted.

Downing Street yesterday confirmed they could be swiftly re-imposed on areas that see new local infection spikes, the move to single out specific towns has sparked anger from the nation’s nine regional mayors.

Some of the most powerful mayors mounted a joint protest to the PM during a conference call with him last week, lead by bosses across the north. Leaving some parts of the country unable to keep up with others in the national recovery would be “unsustainable” as well as “deeply divisive and unfair,” they argued.

Many northern towns already suffer from a gaping north-south economic divide that Boris pledged to ‘level up’ as part of his general election offer.

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said: “There is one message I would give to government – do not consider a region-by-region release from lockdown as that would be chaotic.”