'I can't imagine I'll ever live through a madder, more difficult year than 2020'

Writing exclusively for the Manchester Evening News, Andy Burnham reflects on events that put him at the forefront of a showdown with the government

- Andy Burnham

TODAY is going to be a difficult one for people across Greater Manchester. It's five years since we were first told to stay at home to stop the spread of Covid - to protect the NHS, and to protect each other.

What followed was one of the biggest challenges of our lifetime, and one that took a devastating toll on families, on livelihoods, and on the frontline workers fighting to keep us all safe.

More than 7,500 of our friends, loved ones, and colleagues were taken from us in that time. We remember each of them, and our thoughts are with all those who will be hurting today.

When we think back to the intense and extraordinary year that was 2020, perhaps one of the memories people will have is an image of me standing outside the Bridgewater Hall, empty streets all around, reacting to a text on a phone.

It would go on to spur a thousand memes - and a claim in the House of Commons from Jacob Rees-Mogg that I had put on an act for the cameras.

The truth is my reaction was painfully real - the culmination of seven long months, which began five years ago today, of growing frustration at the way our city-region and its people were treated in a national emergency by the London-centric powers-that-be.

For the first time today, I can reveal the exact wording of that famous message and the reason why it initially made my chin hit the floor but, seconds later, lit the blue touch paper.

"On call with Hancock: comes into effect 1 min past midnight on Friday; it's going to be £22million only; they are going to try to pick off individual councils. Getting loads of grief from Tories."

The text was from our own Lucy Powell MP, who at that very moment was attending a virtual meeting in Westminster with the then Health Secretary.

Up until then, I had been hoping that the Government would listen to us and treat people here fairly when it came to the introduction of Tier 3.