Government urged to look to Liverpool to learn lessons on dealing with Covid

Off the back of a damning report into its handling of Covid 19, the government's being urged to look to Liverpool to learn lessons on how to deal with any future outbreaks.

Yesterday MPs criticised last year's local lockdowns for being ineffective and highlighted Liverpool's Champions League game at Anfield against Atletico Madrid as a potential super spreader event.

Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram says it's evidence more powers should be given to local leaders to control any future spread :

"Mass testing started here and it was such a success that it rolled out across the rest of the country. If you work in partnership there are huge benefits; what the Government can't afford to do is go back to their stance from eighteen months ago and all o fthe things we were promised, a world class test and trace system, never happened because you need local input.

"We bounced back, quicker than probably any other area in the country. The economy is starting to really recover and the benefit isn't just for us it's for UK PLC as well. If there's one lesson I'd say they need to work more with local leaders on the ground who understand their patches better than central government and Whitehall and Westminster ever could".