Boris Johnson's lockdown 'dither and delay' has cost lives, says Sunderland's council leader

Councillor Graeme Miller, leader of Sunderland City Council, said Mr Johnson’s “dither and delay" in moving to a blanket lockdown similar to that imposed in March 2020 will have “cost many lives and will do untold damage to the economy” and that the “PM’s track record of over promising for political gain means that not only public health, but public confidence, has been severely compromised”.

Cllr Miller has been speaking out since case numbers began to sharply rise last year and has twice urged the Government to put in place tighter regional restrictions to help bring down the number of cases in the area.

His latest message on Tuesday, January 5, comes as infection numbers in Sunderland have doubled compared with figures last week – a worrying trend that the leader has said he “does not expect to see slow overnight”.

Speaking after Mr Johnson announced the latest national lockdown on Monday night, Cllr Miller said: “For each and every day of indecision and watered-down measures, the situation we face has only become more and more perilous.

"These critical measures are weeks too late. Once again, dither and delay has allowed this situation to become out of control.

"We already face an unprecedented national crisis with our healthcare service on the brink of being overwhelmed and we’re still a week or two away from understanding the true impact of households mixing over Christmas.

“Once again, Boris’s over promise of giving families a Christmas together, that he could never have known was practicable or possible at the time he announced it, means that many lives will be lost.

"We have a Prime Minister who is more concerned about politics and his popularity than people’s lives and who ducks decisions until he is forced into U-turns instead of doing the right thing early.

“The Prime Minister must now put his public duty before all else – before politics - and take decisions that are vital to stave-off this virus. Nothing else should matter.”

Mr Johnson stressed on Monday that the decision to enforce a third lockdown was triggered by the rapid spread of the new variant of coronavirus and added: “I know that you have had more than enough of Government guidance about defeating this virus.

“But now, more than ever, we must pull together.”

Official figures on Monday, January 4, saw an increase of 228 coronavirus cases across Sunderland to take the total number of infections to 14,400.

Covid-19-related deaths, which are only measured at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust level, rose by four to 661.

Cllr Miller believes that vital weeks have been lost and that "going harder, earlier" could have prevented the loss of thousands of lives and significant pressure being applied to the UK economy.

He added: “Boris Johnson has given us the worst of all worlds.

"Lockdowns come with huge sacrifice. Nobody denies that. But watered down lockdowns – closing hospitality businesses and non-essential retail, while keeping schools, where we know the virus is spreading, open – means these lockdowns will end up being more protracted and more damaging in the long run.”

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