Manchester Tier 3 Restrictions Announced

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham

Greater Manchester set to move into Tier 3 after talks over financial support broke down.

Mayor Andy Burnham announced that ministers had "walked away" from talks after refusing to offer the £65m called for by Great Manchester. He went onto say these new restrictions "would be certain to increase levels of poverty, homelessness and hardship".

Today Mr Burnham spoke alongside other local leaders in the city centre and said “At no point today were we offered enough to protect the poorest people in our communities.”

Tier three rules mean most pubs and bars will close, and there will be extra restrictions on household mixing.

Boris Johnson will hold a press conference today at 17:00 BST, followed by a statement in the House of Commons from Health Secretary Matt Hancock at 19:00 BST.

Greater Manchester was offered £60m from the central government to help support businesses under the Tier 3 restrictions - but after a conversation with the Prime Minister, Mayor Burnham suggested it wasn’t possible to accept anything less than £65m. Originally the request was for £90 million, which subsequently came down to £75 million in advanced discussions and now Mr Burnham feels that £60 million is not enough and will leave the poorest people more vulnerable than ever.

One question today asked whether it was worth letting a deal fall through for the sake of £5 million, when billions has already been shelled out by the government to combat COVID 19.

Other local Ministers like William Wragg, Conservative MP for Hazel Grove in Greater Manchester said "I shall avoid political comment until I have heard Matt Hancock's statement in House of Commons this evening.”