UK coronavirus live: Burnham says 10pm closing time for pubs ‘doing more harm than good’

Greater Manchester mayor says rule ‘creates an incentive for people to gather in the streets or at home’

9.00am BST

Good morning. Boris Johnson only announced the rule forcing pubs in England to close at 10pm six days ago, and it only came into force on Thursday, but already he is under pressure to abandon it. This morning on the Today programme Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, said he thought it was counter-productive. He explained:

There needs to be an urgent review of the emerging evidence from police forces across the country. My gut feeling is that this curfew is doing more harm than good … It creates an incentive for people to gather in the streets, or more probably to gather in the home, and that is the opposite of what our local restrictions here are trying to do.

So I don’t think this been fully thought through, to be honest.

Continue reading…Greater Manchester mayor says rule ‘creates an incentive for people to gather in the streets or at home’New Covid fines of up to £10,000 come into force in EnglandDelay university term until on-campus testing ready, says Labour‘Like the English civil war’: Covid crisis inflames neighbour disputesGlobal coronavirus updates – live 9.00am BSTGood morning. Boris Johnson only announced the rule forcing pubs in England to close at 10pm six days ago, and it only came into force on Thursday, but already he is under pressure to abandon it. This morning on the Today programme Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, said he thought it was counter-productive. He explained:There needs to be an urgent review of the emerging evidence from police forces across the country. My gut feeling is that this curfew is doing more harm than good … It creates an incentive for people to gather in the streets, or more probably to gather in the home, and that is the opposite of what our local restrictions here are trying to do.So I don’t think this been fully thought through, to be honest. Related: Coronavirus live news: global deaths near 1m as India passes 6m cases Continue reading…