Covid: Manchester mayor calls for 'urgent review' of 10pm curfew

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image captionExtra restrictions on socialising between households were introduced in Greater Manchester in July

The mayor of Greater Manchester has called for an “urgent review” of the 10pm curfew for pubs and restaurants.

Andy Burnham said it meant people were gathering in homes and shops that were “packed out to the rafters” once the bars closed.

“My gut feeling is that this curfew is doing more harm than good,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

He said: “It creates an incentive for people to gather in the street or more probably to gather in the home.”

“That is the opposite of what local restrictions here are trying to do,” he added.

“I think there needs to be an urgent review of the emerging evidence from police forces across the country.”

‘Shambolic’

Under the new restrictions, which came into force on Thursday, all pubs, bars and restaurants in England are to provide table service only and must shut no later than 10pm.

Greater Manchester’s night-time economy advisor Sacha Lord

tweeted that the curfew was “ill thought out” and “shambolic”.

Liverpool’s mayor Joe Anderson has also spoken out about the curfew, saying it is “making things more dangerous” after crowds gathered in the city as the pubs turned out drinkers on Saturday night.

Extra restrictions on socialising between households were introduced in Greater Manchester, as well as parts of Lancashire and Yorkshire, at the end of July following a spike in cases.