Mayor of Middlesbrough, Andy Preston, has accused the Government of ignoring local authorities when applying local lockdown restrictions.
Middlesbrough and Hartlepool have today (Oct 01) been put under the same lockdown restrictions as other areas of the North East, including neighbouring Newcastle.
The Mayor has accused the Government of not taking into account the expertise and experience that the local authority has in the region when considering which measures to put in place.
The Mayor said:
"We were pro-active and put forward our own suggestion based on data and our public health professionals' understanding of what is actually happening here.
"The government has ignored us. I strongly disagree with their decision and will go on making the case that this isn't right at this moment in time for Middlesbrough.
"In the meantime we will start working on local measures to try and protect people's wellbeing and jobs."
The region had previously discussed having local measures in place, although they fell short of the Government’s measures, which mean it is prohibited to mix households within the area, even in private venues such as homes.
