Andy Burnham for PM?

[rabbitheadlights]

Exactly that .

ImEatingVeryHealthilyOhYe Yes to those eyelashes!

"He isn't responsible for the shockingly bad state of healthcare in this country.
Which is proven to have helped the UK have one of the worst excess death rates in the world."

@thecatsatonthewall He is I'm afraid. Andy Burnham as Labour Health Minister at the time oversaw PFI which has contributed to the financial pressures the NHS currently faces. This impacts on care today.

I've always been fond of him since his role in fighting for the second Hillsborough enquiry

@slidingdrawers

"He isn't responsible for the shockingly bad state of healthcare in this country. Which is proven to have helped the UK have one of the worst excess death rates in the world."

@thecatsatonthewall He is I'm afraid. Andy Burnham as Labour Health Minister at the time oversaw PFI which has contributed to the financial pressures the NHS currently faces. This impacts on care today.

But without PFI we wouldn't have many modern hospitals would we?

Labour were operating in an era of much higher interest rates, conventional borrowing wasn't an option, PFI for all its faults and yes there are many! helped stopped the decline in the NHS after two decades of tory rule.

The Tories introduced fees for all healthcare students and took away the nursing bursary, which has had a far greater impact on the NHS plus ten years of austerity.

Also, despite ten years in power, have done nothing about adult social care, again contributing to the extremely high death rates in the community and care homes.

oh forgot, he was health sec long after PFI, from 2009 to 2010, only in the cabinet from 2007.

Why on earth would anyone want this idiot in charge. This virus is taking a strong hold again. The areas in the North have the highest percentage per head of population so surely need more measures I am sick of people just concerned about their own jobs without realising the whole country is going to suffer more It is not just happening here it is increasing in most parts of Europe
Before anyone asks our Business is dead in the water until we can open up more.

That reads like you didn't know Manchester's rates are dropping.

He has no plan and no strategy with the rates rising in all boroughs other than Manchester. As the Mayor with a devolved budget he needs to actually take action. He could start with enforcing some of the basic social distancing rules.

Quite honestly the hero worship on places like the MEN Facebook page sickens me.

@slidingdrawers

"He isn't responsible for the shockingly bad state of healthcare in this country. Which is proven to have helped the UK have one of the worst excess death rates in the world."

@thecatsatonthewall He is I'm afraid. Andy Burnham as Labour Health Minister at the time oversaw PFI which has contributed to the financial pressures the NHS currently faces. This impacts on care today.

He also presided over the shortest waiting lists in the history of the NHS. PFI may not have done the health service any favours but the damage it did fades into insignificance compared with a decade of austerity.

Andy Burnham - 🌟🌟🌟

I am a Labour voter but very relived not to live in Manchester. You couldn’t get it any more wrong than to block a policy that will save lives whilst simultaneously denying hospitality workers top up income.

I've always respected AB but his statement "fighting.... for the health of our people in the broadest sense" is at risk of backfiring imo when local hospitals are overwhelmed and the unintended consequences of that become clear.

Isn't he saying the local lockdown isn't an answer seeing as the scientists are saying a 'circuit breaker' is what is needed, so do not sacrifice us northerners for something that is not expected to work. He is saying we are being used as the Canary in the coal mine.

@Tippexy

No, he’s an absolute disgrace. The power has gone to his head.

Agree. Whilst he is enjoying his time in the spotlight more people are catching the virus and at worst being hospitalised.

Yes !

@AldiAisleofCrap

Problem is the Government’s own medical advisors have admitted tier 3 won’t actually help all that much and the economic impact on hospitality businesses will be catastrophic for very little return. He’s absolutely doing the right thing I my view and so proud to have him represent us.

I think he's a good bloke and knows his stuff.

@Neighbours87

Agreed have thought this since his work on hillsborough. I was disappointed when he didn’t win the labour leadership

Oh come on. He did nothing about Hillsborough until he was shamed into it by a heckling crowd in 2009. Let's put the credit where it belongs - with people like Anne Williams, Margaret Aspinall, Phil Scraton and journalists like David Conn. Alan Johnson started an inquiry into Hillsborough in December 2009, just a few months before Labour lost the election. Everything since then has been done under the Tories, including Theresa May when she was Home Secretary. Don't get me wrong, I'm no Tory supporter, but Andy Burnham always liked to be front and centre when there's any kudos to be handed out, especially when there's a camera around. Don't be fooled by him.

He's styled himself as leader of a modern day Council of the North, only he is blocking an urgently needed 3 tier rule that is badly needed here.

I'm not totally against him, he's usually OK, but he's being really irresponsible over this issue because cases across the north are still rising rapidly. We need the 3 tier lockdown as soon as possible. He needs to back down and walk away to fight another day. The situation is too urgent to be dragging out party politcs the way he is doing with all this north/south divide stuff.

He is saying we are being used as the Canary in the coal mine

But wasn't it Leicester who was the canary in the coal mine? This is the problem with the bigwigs of Manchester (the city). They're blinded by their own shiny lights. They think Manchester IS the north. The want everyone in the north sucked into their sinkhole and this was true before covid. He isnt even the mayor if Manchester, (please media stop saying that). He is the mayor of Greater Manchester, which is a county with a number of towns and cities

Liverpool, surprisingly really, have said yes to the govt 3 tier rules. Fair play to them and it wont go unnoticed in the rest if the north.

Other Met counties/cities/towns in the north will be watching all this of course. The Yorkies are keeping their heads down ATM and the north east, but Liverpool I think have the played the upper hand and kept some integrity, by admitting something had to be done urgently. They agreed to it but Manchester still dithers

@puffinsseagulls

This speech might be the biggest regret of his life if the death toll in Manchester is higher than anywhere else in coming months.

That would be the fault of the Government. Even their own scientists have said tier 3 won't be enough. They have had 7 months to sort out test track and trace and the contact tracing is really low. The whole thing has been badly handled by the government.

It's very obvious now that they are trying to pass the blame onto mayors and anybody else they can blame. Some idiots will lap that up.

SAGE have said Tier 3 'might' not work.

They hoped that the lockdown in March would work. It didn't because they didn't factor in the short term memory and the 'I'm not being told what to do' attitude of a very significant proportion of the public.

So whether it is a regional lockdown or a national lockdown, the infection rates will rise each time it ends whether the lockdown is a two weeks, a month long or three months long.

Also track and trace will only keep the virus in check if:

1 The UK general public as a whole was raised to value civic and social responsibilities over individualism. But why someone be able to decide if it suits them and the won't be inconvenieced doing the right thing?

2 If enough people give correct contact details for themselves and friends or colleagues they have been in contact with. But would they if they don't feel ill and need to work to pay bills or simply are too distrustful of Big Brother.

3 There is more monitoring of quarantine violations and harsher penalties to act as a deterrent as in the case of the often lauded South Koreans. But would they agree to have authorities know where they are by reference to geo location and bank account information?

4 There is a more visible police presence. But that could be the slippery slope to a police state.

So what to do? Because as we have seen there are so many different opinions and people forget that includes those of scientists around the UK and the world. Hasn't the WHO advised that due to the disproportionate and heavy impact on the poorest in society, lockdowns should be one of the last choices considered? But as always, people only want to act on a scientist's advice if it's want they want to hear.

@CrappleUmble

He particularly isn't responsible for the national lockdown having been both imposed and lifted on London's timetable, with zero thought to the north.

Would that be the national lockdown that came into effect too late for London. The reason that thousands of Londoners are dead? And now deja vu with restrictions coming too late for London again?

It's all been cocked up alright but it sure ain't on a London timetable!

To answer the OP.
I vote for a garden mole as PM.

OP

Just so I’m clear, you want him to be PM because he’s pushing for national lockdown?

The current PM is doing that...

Has everyone forgotten mid staffs? www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/chris-skidmore/mid-staffordshire-andy-burnham_b_2970110.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvLnVrLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAFPGzc30qpH9icBlsBHR7Yao1-89HFpbgIiVXhaagA8Bl9O8DZbV8HQkwy5ZTvkyOZ2xy3UodBVsOEu4Xga53P2HgVWfa3taxI7CtEfbMfJxTwjgTyDD5pMPIfEi56H9eaMPPUgFAMajt_HGzDj3VNbpeCnu832XqxyfAZp2GQDv

Sorry that’s a very long link.

But he was very dismissive of the whistleblower. I’ve never forgotten that.