Governments must have local support if they are to govern effectively

Editorial: The core issue here is that this country is over-centralised both in its policymaking and the application of those policies

The mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham (Getty)

There are many lessons to be learnt from the government’s mishandling of the Covid-19 emergency: its use of scientific advice; its communications; the internal workings of the government machine; its strategy on public health; the entire decision-making process and so on. All this will need months of honest, sometimes uncomfortable, self-examination. This is the task for the joint parliamentary inquiry, led by two former Tory ministers, Greg Clark and Jeremy Hunt,  that was launched last week.

There is, however, some action that is needed right now, for one of the many things that has become clear is that the government is failing to bring large swathes of the country with it as it seeks to combat the second wave of the virus. It is not simply a question of poor explanation, or poor communication more generally. Nor is it a matter of London finding that the north is in revolt. Any part of the country that sees its economy savaged by the government response to the virus is likely to push back.

The core issue here is that this country is over-centralised both in its policymaking and the application of those policies. Put bluntly, local mayors probably know more about how best to control outbreaks in the areas that elected them than the ministers and their advisers in London. As we argued yesterday, the government should have involved them, including Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, in the decision-making process, rather than having Sir Edward Lister, the prime minister’s adviser, phone them after the policy had been set. It cannot be right that Andy Burnham should feel he might have to mount a legal challenge to the job support announced by Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, on Friday.