Professor Sophie Harman has featured in an article on how Northern mayors in the UK have joined efforts to shift the focus of a Covid-19 response that has been largely aimed at London alone. The London centric approach has been discussed among northern mayors with Labour councillor for Bury Council stating ‘places like the north west, Greater Manchester and Leicester still had levels of Covid that were higher and an R value closer to or above one when lockdown ended, therefore we had spikes quite soon after. The evidence seems to show that the national release of restrictions was done on London’s trajectory and not the entire country.’ Professor Sophie Harman has gone against the north-south divide notion, saying: “People need to trust the government is taking action that will keep them safe, not that this is another example of London-based politicians trying to penalise parts of the country that have so often felt left behind.
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