Bishops right to speak out over North’s lockdown hardship – The Yorkshire Post says

However, Ministers would be unwise to do so. They have allowed party politics – and, specifically, their battles with Labour and disrespect for metro mayors – to detract from getting additional help to the vulnerable. And this, coupled with Tory MPs rejecting pleas by footballer Marcus Rashford to extend free school meals, risks fuelling resentment and leaving an already divided nation even more split.

That is the reason why the Archbishop of York, together with the Bishops of Leeds and Manchester, have written about the human heartache behind this week’s standoffs over Tier 3 lockdown restrictions.

They know, from the pastoral work of churches, that the poor, already at a disadvantage before Covid struck, are losing the most – both in terms of income and health. But they’re also aware that parts of the North have been in semi-lockdown for weeks and that Ministers ignored calls for extra assistance until London was placed under new restrictions this week. That was telling.

And while Chancellor Rishi Sunak will say his latest measures – just a month after he unveiled his Winter Jobs Plan – are evidence of the Government listening, this view is not universally shared.

Yes, Ministers are in an invidious position, and the senior clergy recognise this, but they also say that, in the “long haul ahead”, defeating the pandemic demands “greater collaboration” between Westminster and local leaders. On this, there will be wide agreement across the North but is the London Government prepared to accept this constructive and timely criticism and strive to find a new spirit of unity? Time will tell but lives do depend on Ministers doing so.

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