We cannot afford to not give out more financial support – our national unity and cohesion depend on it

Editorial: Without money to pay rent or mortgage, some people will be forced to evade the guidelines and go to work

The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, says the country cannot afford it. In reality the country cannot afford not to do it (Getty)

Though he could never admit it, the reason why much of the north of England is being pushed into further restrictions, or held in already draconian regimes, is because of fundamental failures on the part of the prime minister himself.  

In other words, despite the global “second wave” of Covid-19, the extent of the new restrictions on the north of England and parts of the Midlands was not in fact inevitable or the fault of the people who live north of Watford. After all, the pubs in Hertfordshire or Surrey are not being closed down in the way they are in Liverpool and Manchester. The north/south divide, institutionalised now in three “tiers”, has never been more stark. The feeling that those in places now designated “tier 2” and “tier 3” feel like second- and third-class citizens is palpable. There is a sense of righteous anger at this stigmatisation of whole communities. More than that, the lack of pre-decision consultation is infantilising and insulting. The failure to offer further economic support will further impoverish hard-pressed areas. Yet it is not the fault of the people of Manchester, Middlesbrough or Nottingham that they are being impoverished.  

If, as the deputy chief medical officer for England, Jonathan Van-Tam, asserts, the position on hospital admissions is as grave as it was when the first lockdown was announced in March, then the question obviously arises as to why this should be the case. The answer to that is threefold.