This government has destroyed its relationship with councils – and it will doom track and trace

Throughout the coronavirus crisis, our over-centralised system of government has set back the national effort, writes Andrew Grice

Matt Hancock and Dido Harding presented the latest figures on test and trace on Thursday evening (AP)

When Matt Hancock unveiled the first results of the government’s test and trace scheme, he praised the team delivering it: the army of contract tracers, the NHS and Public Health England (PHE) staff, and even name-checked some of the private sector firms involved – Boots, Amazon, Serco and SITA. But the health secretary didn’t mention local authorities.

It was a revealing omission. The government’s attempts to deliver the “world-beating” test and trace system promised by Boris Johnson has been badly hindered by its traditional hostility towards local councils.

Hancock has form. Trying to deflect criticism for the tragedy in care homes after hospitals sent them patients with coronavirus, he told MPs last month: “The policy levers that I have as secretary of state are only through councils, which themselves have to then act.”