Covid update: MP Rayner slams Government's 'levelling up' plan 'scandal'
Date published: 30 June 2021
MP for Ashton and Failsworth, Angela Rayner
New research into how coronavirus has affected regions across the country has revealed that Greater Manchester’s death rate is 25-per-cent higher than the national average.
The study by Sir Michael Marmot also shows that nearly four months more was wiped off male life expectancy in the North West than the national average.
Ashton and Failsworth MP Angela Rayner said: “This pandemic has affected all of us, but it has not affected all of us equally.
“The Covid crisis has exposed and exacerbated the huge regional inequalities in our country.
"How can it be right that my constituents in Oldham and Tameside are 25-per-cent more likely to die from Covid than in other areas of the country?
“If 'levelling up' is going to mean anything, it must mean ending this scandal and correcting the inequalities that exist in those communities that were hit hardest by coronavirus.
“As we move away from the pandemic, the government must give local authorities across Greater Manchester the resources they need to improve public health.”
Sir Michael’s findings also reportedly show that lockdown restrictions were not appropriately timed to fit the pandemic pattern and have had damaging social, health and economic impacts.
Eight of Greater Manchester’s 10 boroughs - including Oldham and Tameside - saw higher than average death rates and Sir Michael says he and his team from University College London believe the region was already more vulnerable to a health crisis owing to the correlation between poverty and those most likely to catch the virus due to factors such as overcrowded housing.
Sir Michael highlighted the way existing inequalities contributed to being more susceptible by pointing out that if you’re from a low income household, you’re more likely to be working in a frontline occupation, meaning more face to face contact with the general public and therefore more exposure to the virus.
The report also shows that public health funding in the North West was cut by more than the national average over the last eight years, leading to councils having less capability to deal with the pandemic.
Meanwhile, coronavirus infection rates have gone up in nine boroughs of Greater Manchester, the latest data shows.
Manchester continues to have the highest rate in the region with 452 cases per 100,000 people in the week ending June 25, according to Public Health England.
The lowest infection rate is in Stockport, where the rate is 241.
Oldham's current rate is 323.9 per 100,000 people, up by 47-per-cent from last week's figures, compared to England's national rate of 148.8.
Oldham saw a total of 768 cases in the week ending June 25, which is 245 more than the previous week.
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