In October 2020, Mayor Andy Burnham said during Covid:
“People here in Greater Manchester have been living under restrictions for three months, and they have taken a heavy toll on people. They are struggling. Businesses are on the brink of closure.
To accept any further restrictions in these circumstances would be certain to increase levels of poverty, homelessness, and hardship within our city-region.
Let’s be clear who is most affected by a Tier 3 lockdown: it is people working in pubs, in bookies, driving taxis. People too often forgotten by those in power.
But this city-region has never walked on by, and it never will.”
When taking action to regulate the high street Labour politicians, guided by Gordon Brown and his followers, band together bookies with vape shops and other ‘undesirables.’ Hitting betting shops is of course much easier than tackling any of the others, which have actually proliferated…
| Category | 2015 | 2020 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Licenced Betting Offices | 8,822 | 7,683 | 5,872 |
| Vape shops | 262 | 1,506 | 3,776 |
| Barbers | 2,953 | 8,899 | 18,078 |
| Confectioners | 399 | 674 | 1,365 |
| Adult Gaming Centres | 1,610 | 1,464 | 1,502 |
| Fast food takeaways | 2,882 | 6,537 | 13,478 |
The Betting and Gaming Council says 4,500 jobs have been lost in the gambling sector since Reeves’ tax raid at the budget last year. Burnham supposedly wants to go further – what does he actually believe?
