Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham has rallied against the reintroduction of local lockdowns in parts of England with high COVID case rates – claiming they “simply do not work”.
The government has so far refused to rule out reimposing tougher sanctions in English regions where a more infectious variant of coronavirus – first identified in India – is causing cases to climb once again.
Bolton is one of the areas to suffer some of the biggest rises – with transmission rates in the borough more than 14 times the national average.
Speaking to Sky on the weekend, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “Given though Bolton has been in some form of a lockdown for a year, it’s not a step we want to take but of course we might have to take it and we will if it’s necessary to protect people.”
But GM Mayor Andy Burnham has fought back against talk of local lockdowns this week – claiming that regional restrictions “turn lives upside down, ruin businesses and put young people’s lives on hold – with little effect on containing the virus.”
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There’s a big queue for the vaccine bus at Essa Academy in #Bolton.
Yesterday, the site broke the UK record for the most vaccinations in one day! pic.twitter.com/O2N1uR51Ks
— Hits Radio News | Manchester (@hitsmcrnews) May 18, 2021
Writing in The Mirror, Burnham suggested that people in lockdown areas would simply travel to other parts of England, causing the virus to circulate further.
He stated: “The trust of the public will be lost if local lockdown restrictions are imposed on them just at the time when the Government is easing them everywhere else.
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“And it will be harder for mayors and local leaders to ask the public to observe local lockdowns when the Government hasn’t even tried other solutions that might have prevented them in the first place.”
Burnham claimed the real solution was “staring us right in the face” – and that people needed full income support during self-isolation, whilst high case areas like Bolton should be given permission to vaccinate all people right down to the age of 16.
The queues for a covid vaccine continue to grow in Bolton where high numbers of the Indian variant have been found. More on @GMB tomorrow pic.twitter.com/e4DfAO9Vc2
Greater Manchester is no stranger to local lockdowns.
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In Autumn last year, several boroughs were living under different sets of ever-changing rules. At one stage, Trafford and Bolton were given the green light to lift social curbs on meeting others indoors – only to have the restrictions reimposed on the same day they were due to be removed.
On September 8, Bolton hospitality was blamed for high case rates and the sector was restricted to takeaway-only – with all venues temporarily required to close from 10pm to 5am.
Now, with case rates rising once again, business owners in the borough are concerned that similar restrictions could return; just days after bars, cafes, pubs, cinemas and culture venues reopened to the public on May 17.
Testing has however been ramped up in Bolton to slow the spread and a new vaccine centre has opened – with more than 6,000 local people queuing up to get a COVID shot over the weekend.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has refused to commit to a course of action yet, but said there was nothing yet in the data to suggest England would need to deviate from its roadmap to exiting lockdown.
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He stated: “We’re looking at all the data as it comes in from places like Bolton, Blackburn, Bedford, Sefton” and added that the situation was “under very careful, close review.”
Milk Maids, Bolton – The family-run ice cream parlour on an award-winning farm
Daisy Jackson
Ice cream doesn’t come much fresher than those served at Milk Maids – in fact, you’ll be standing right on the family farm where the cows that produce the milk live, as you tuck into your scoop.
This unassuming dairy farm in Bolton has been in operation for decades, and in the same family for generations.
But it’s when sisters Fiona and Rebecca saw the full potential of all that award-winning milk being produced on their farm that Milk Maids was born.
This ice cream parlour on Dearden’s Farm in Over Hulton is now one of the hottest spots in Greater Manchester, especially when the weather is similarly hot.
Every month they release a whole batch of flavours, all made fresh daily (you can literally see Fiona legging it across the yard with buckets of milk to make fresh batches), with May specials including white chocolate and sea salt caramel, raspberry cookie, and passionfruit pavlova.
Milk Maids, Bolton – The family-run ice cream parlour on an award-winning farm
Cones can be filled with molten chocolate or pistachio creme before your ice cream is scooped and pressed into the cone.
Or you can have your chosen flavour whizzed up into a milkshake, served in a milk bun, or presented in an insulated take-home box for later.
We could wax lyrical about how good this ice cream is, but the queues really do speak for themselves, and you should go and get in it right now.
Bolton grooming gang ringleader who ‘preyed upon young teenage girls’ jailed
Emily Sergeant
The main offender of a group of sexual predators who preyed upon young teenage girls in Bolton has been jailed.
Ashley Darbyshire appeared at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday (Monday 28 April) was found guilty of grooming, raping, and sexually assaulting underage girls in the Blackrod area of Bolton between 2016 and 2018.
He was convicted of three counts of rape, 12 counts of sexual activity with a child, three counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and one count of making indecent photographs of a child.
Darbyshire was sentenced alongside three other men who were part of the group, with the remaining set to be sentenced today (29 April).
#SENTENCED | Three men part of Blackrod grooming gang have been sentenced today 28/04/25 for sexual offences against girls under 16.
Ashley Darbyshire (01/01/1997), of Bolton, was sentenced to 15 years, at Liverpool Crown Court.
According to Greater Manchester Police (GMP), the offences began in 2016 when the primary offender, Darbyshire – who was 19 at the time – first came into contact with the primary victim, a girl aged 13, and then went on to introduce her to nine of his friends, who each ‘used and abused her at their disposal’ on numerous occasions into 2018.
The men – who were all aged from between 17 and 29 at the time when the offences began – also approached the other victims, all girls under the age of 16, via private messaging and social media platforms, and got to know them from where many local teenagers would hang out and socialise near the community centre.
The men plied some of the victims with alcohol and drugs, GMP explained, while some of them would send indecent images of their private body parts to the girls, as well as initiate sexual conversations with them on messaging platforms.
The other two grooming gang members sentenced on the same day as Darbyshire / Credit: GMP
The offences eventually came to light after an incident involving one of the victims and another defendant on Sunday 17 June 2018, after which the police were notified, and an investigation was subsequently launched.
The group of men were all convicted of a range of sexual offences, with over 30 convictions between them.
Darbyshire has been sentenced to 15 years in prison, and is set to serve 10 years in custody, as well as being placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.
On the same day as Darbyshire’s sentencing, another man from the group, Ross Corley, was convicted of two counts of sexual activity with a child and sentenced to 28 months in prison, and another unnamed man was convicted of two counts of sexual activity with a child under 16, and was sentenced to 15 months, suspended for two years.
According to GMP, many of the men ‘showed no remorse’ for their actions in court when sentenced.
The Manc -
19th May 2021 
