Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson has said he will 'resist' allowing schools to open in the city in June, despite government plans for partial reopenings.
In the government's plan for easing the coronavirus lockdown, some primary schools have been told to reopen from June 1
Years Reception, 1 and 6, along with nurseries and childminders, are expected to resume lessons followed by Years 2, 3, 4 and 5 later in June.
Boris Johnson says this is a key aspect of his plan - but teachers and parents have expressed fears about safety and social distancing.
Now Mayor Anderson has made it clear he intends not to follow the government's plans regarding schools.
On twitter this afternoon, the Mayor tweeted: "Education is vital, however it does not come before the health and safety of our children & staff.
"We have responsibility for Safeguarding our children and so I will resist allowing schools to reopen in June. To do so risks our children’s and staff safety."
The city council manages the vast majority of primary schools provision in Liverpool and has been running specialist school hubs for the children of key workers during the crisis so far.
Speaking to the ECHO, Mayor Anderson said he cannot see the logic of forcing primary pupils to go back when issues around safety and transmission of the virus are still unclear.
He said: "As the council, we have a duty of safeguarding for these children and to protect our staff.
"There is a real issue in having children return to school and not knowing whether they might be carrying the virus and spreading it to other kids and to staff.
"We are hearing from parents and unions who have massive concerns about the fact the government are forcing this and for what? For four weeks?
"We have a government who is determined to make everyone believe things are getting back to normal, but that is just not the case."
He added: "We cannot be sure that the children will be safe so we will resist the move to reopen the schools that we are responsible for and I will be urging governors and headteachers not to reopen the schools at this point."
