A BOROUGH'S Liberal Democrats have attacked the government's 'Big Bang' approach to relaxing coronavirus restrictions.

They have submitted a motion to Pendle's Full Council on Thursday criticising the July 19 relaxations and calling for the return of the legal requirement to wear face masks.

Proposed by LibDem group leader David Whipp and seconded by Barnoldswick ward's Cllr Marjorie Adams it calls on the borough's chief executive to write to health secretary Sajid Javid and Pendle MP Andrew Stephenson on the issue.

The motion reads: "We note the ‘Big Bang’ approach being pursued by the government in response to the continuing pandemic and persistently high rates of Covid-19 infection in Pendle.

"We believe that relaxing face-covering requirements will add to the spread of the virus. In many occupations, people have no choice about being close to other people and for many there aren’t any other protections in place.

"We further note that more than one in five people are under the age of eighteen and haven’t generally been offered a vaccination.

"We believe that more people will get sick, some of them very sick and that levels of hospitalisation will continue to increase."

It asks the council chief executive writes to Mr Javid and Mr Stephenson to request that requirements for mandatory face coverings are reintroduced.