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| - "I'd sooner die than not see my kids," said pensioner Barry as he savoured some final drinks in a Manchester pub before new coronavirus rules kicked in on Friday. New restrictions are meant to contain surging cases, but locals say widespread confusion and fatigue with Britain's Covid-19 response risk undermining the government's latest plans. That could threaten support for Prime Minister Boris Johnson in so-called "Red Wall" seats in northern and central England that his Conservative Party snatched from Labour for the first time ever in last December's election landslide. Under his latest regional strategy to bring down spiralling local infection rates, pubs will now only be able to serve dining customers, gaming centres and gyms will close while household mixing will also be banned. "I'm absolutely sick of this now," said Barry, a regular at The Thomas Burke pub in Leigh, a town around 10 miles (16 km) east of Manchester and until recently a long-time Labour bastion. "I told my daughter this morning, come around next week, everyone's like me now." Fellow drinker Christian Best said unclear communication of the regulations would also lead to people ignoring them. "I can't see it making a massive difference because I can't see people abiding by the rules," said the 36-year-old, who runs a website design company next door to the pub. "Nobody knows the rules," chimed in train driver Vinny Sutton, 59. Johnson's government unilaterally imposed the rules on Greater Manchester after failing to reach a funding deal with its mayor Andy Burnham, a former Labour MP for Leigh. The prime minister "just doesn't care about anyone," said Christine McAllastar 59, surrounded by Halloween paraphernalia in her sister's party shop, where she works. "I just can't understand ordinary working class people voting Tory," said the Labour supporter, who would like to see Burnham as prime minister. "They won't discuss it anymore, they know they've done wrong," she added, before accusing Johnson of deepening Britain's "north-south divide" by "punishing us". Local Labour Councillor Anita Thorpe said the government had pulled a "dirty trick" on Burnham over the 11 days of funding talks, adding "they couldn't let Andy be seen to win." But even among Labour supporters in the former mill town, such as pub-goer Andy Schoelzel, the mayor's actions drew a mixed response. "I blame Burnham," he said, adding the mayor should have struck a deal. Despite widespread criticism over the handling of the local lockdown, some Labour supporters were sympathetic to Johnson's plight. "I don't think the government know enough about it, they are trying their best with something that's completely unknown," said Tammy Perry, 45 from nearby Wigan. The hospital worker said her ward had now been converted to treat coronavirus patients. She was one of the throng braving the wind and rain outside BJ's bingo hall before a final game. Friend Joanne Else, 45, said she was "absolutely wounded" that the bingo hall would shut, and that her job as a care-home worker had given her perspective. Residents "can't see their families and I just think time is precious," explained the 45-year-old, who herself caught the disease in March. "You just don't know how (much) longer they are going to be alive. If they go downhill and they die, they'll not see their family again, but I can see both sides." Other bingo players highlighted the contradictory rules, with venues in nearby Liverpool, also in the highest tier 3 category, allowed to remain open. "If the pubs can stay open that serve meals, I don't see what the point is," said Mary Hilton, 76. "It's the only thing me and my husband do, we don't drink, we don't smoke." She said locals were "definitely" losing faith in the prime minister, but that "I wouldn't like his job." Long-time Labour supporter Michele Holden added: "I smoke and play a bit of bingo, it's somewhere for people to come and relax, but they are taking that away from everybody. "I'm absolutely frustrated with everything. Everybody's so mad. There's no words really." While support for Johnson was in short supply, Martin Thorpe, 32, said he did not regret his vote for the Tories last year. "I think he's been brilliant. He's got the world on his shoulders... but he can't do right for doing wrong," the carer said inside The Thomas Burke. He blamed the second wave on "daft people having parties, with 50 or 60 round their house." Ambulance worker Louise Harvey, 47, urged for people to stick to the rules, saying she had "noticed the hospitals are getting a bit fuller" after being "quite empty" during the first wave. "For us working on the front line, everything helps." jwp/jj/pma
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