The government's plans to reopen primary schools before the summer are in tatters today after Liverpool led a rebellion against the plans.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson is expected to admit in the House of Commons later today that not all pupils will go back in another difficult climbdown for the government during the coronavirus crisis.
The move comes after major criticism of the plans by schools, teachers, unions and local authorities who have argued that the situation is just not safe enough for a fuller return.
And it was Liverpool City Council and Mayor Joe Anderson who were the first of the local authorities to speak out and reject the government's move.
When Boris Johnson spoke to the nation on May 10, he announced plans to reopen primary schools to more pupils from June 1.
But just two days later, Mayor Anderson took to social media to announce that he and his administration would 'resist' any plans to bring pupils back at that stage as he felt the safety of local children could not be guaranteed, particularly with Liverpool's infection rate declinging more slowly than other areas.
He tweeted: "Education is vital, however it does not come before the health and safety of our children & staff."
Two days later this move was confirmed by the city council's Director of Children's Services Steve Reddy, who wrote to parents in the city to warn that it would simply not be possible to open schools from that date.
Like so many times in its history, it was Liverpool leading the fight against what it felt was a flawed government policy that would put its residents at risk - and many others soon followed.
Scores of local authorities - including the rest of Merseyside - said they would either not be reopening schools or would back headteachers over the government in whatever decisions they felt were correct.
The teaching unions also took a strong line against the government's plans and argued that the government simply hadn't done enough to help schools feel safe about bringing more pupils andf staff back.
Some schools in the region were looking to then start to admit more pupils from this week, but news of a reported rising R rate in the North West saw this date pushed back again for many.
Today the government will be forced into another difficult retreat, something they have had to do on a number of occasions during this crisis.
It is being widely reported that schools will now be given "flexibility" by the Government over whether or not to admit more pupils.
Responding, Mayor Anderson said: "Rightly so. We took some stick at the time for speaking out against this but we felt it was the right thing to do for the people of this city.
"I wasn't going to follow the government guidlines because I didn't trust them to keep people safe.
"We've since seen some reports that the R rate in the North West is above one or just below one but clearly its still a real concern."
Mayor Anderson said there are real concerns about children from deprived backgrounds falling further behind with their education.
He added: "The government promised laptops and other resources for the most underprivileged kids, but where are they? They haven't materialised."
