The UK government has been accused of bringing in “local lockdowns by stealth” after issuing guidance urging people in hotspots of the Indian CCP virus variant to restrict their socialising and travel. The updated advice encourages people in eight areas in England including Bolton, Leicester, Kirklees, and the London Borough of Hounslow not to meet indoors in a bid to halt the spread of the new variant, also known as B1617.2, which some experts say could be 50 percent more transmissible than the Kent variant. The advice was published on the government website on May 21, but local health chiefs said they were neither consulted nor informed about it. Keir Starmer, the leader of the main opposition Labour Party, accused the government of behaving in an “utterly shameful” fashion by not informing people in areas affected. “Local lockdowns are the wrong approach for both public health and local economies,” he …