London is insisting on running the national coronavirus show, and it’s failing miserably

Editorial: Even now, the prime minister seems to be in denial that Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have the right and the duty to make policy on this pandemic

Decisions about Leicester, Greater Manchester, Bradford and other places were communicated late at night from central government (Getty)

It is difficult to decide who should be more embarrassed by the revelation that the government has hatched a draconian contingency plan to seal off the whole of Greater London in the event of a second wave of Covid-19. Should it be Sadiq Khan, the elected mayor of London, responsible for the safety and prosperity of its citizens, who was, humiliatingly, at no point consulted about it? Or should it be Mr Khan’s predecessor, Boris Johnson, for an act of arrogance unseemly even by his own shameless standards?

Maybe everyone should be a bit red-faced about the way central government, local authorities and the devolved administrations have often worked so badly together during the crisis, though Mr Johnson’s government is supposedly running things.

London is hardly alone in being told what’s good for it. The mayor of Leicester, Sir Peter Soulsby and the leaders of the borough councils had little idea of the disaster unfolding in their areas because central government was so slow to share the local level microdata. Even when they did, which took too long, there was little further consultation on the relaxation of the local lockdowns. When decisions were made, late at night, about Leicester, Greater Manchester, Bradford and other places, they were communicated late at night by a combination of Matt Hancock standing in a street in the dark and a few sketchy tweets. Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, was one of the few figures to offer ministers public support; yet now he finds himself publicly pleading with them to protect those currently shielding.