Local government minister Simon Clarke has responded to an MP's call for additional funding to support businesses in Blackburn hit by the delay in lifting some COVID-19 measures.

MP for Blackburn and shadow minister for local government Kate Hollern wrote to Prime Minister Boris Johnson last month to say that delaying, extending, or re-imposing lockdown rules and recognising the impact these will have on local economies, ‘while simultaneously failing to provide employees and employers with extra funding,  is putting the Government at risk of appearing morally bankrupt'.