Coronavirus: Greater Manchester to move into Tier 3, Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirms

Greater Manchester will enter Tier 3 coronavirus restrictions from Friday, Boris Johnson has confirmed.

The prime minister announced the move to tougher COVID-19 measures – the top alert level, called “very high” – after talks with local leaders ended without a deal.

The imposition of extra restrictions comes amid a bitter row with politicians in the area over extra support to accompany the move into Tier 3.

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham accused the government of “walking away” from the discussions during an impassioned news conference earlier.

He said local leaders were not offered enough support to protect people through the “punishing” winter ahead.

Addressing a Downing Street briefing, Mr Johnson said a “comprehensive package of support” was in place for areas put into Tier 3 restrictions, including the government’s Job Support Scheme and access to Universal Credit.

The PM said Greater Manchester would get £22m to implement and enforce the new measures, far short of what local leaders had been calling for.

Mr Johnson added that in addition to this support, a “generous and extensive offer to support Manchester’s businesses” was put on the table.

“This offer was proportionate to the support we have given Merseyside and Lancashire [the other areas in Tier 3], but the mayor didn’t accept this unfortunately,” the PM said.

Failing to act “would put Manchester’s NHS, and the lives of many of Manchester’s residents, at risk”, Mr Johnson said.

Referencing the row with local leaders in the region, the PM added: “Despite the failure to reach an agreement, I hope the Mayor and council leaders in Greater Manchester will now work with us to implement these measures.”

And he said that talks with local leaders in South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and the North East about moving their areas into Tier 3 were continuing.

Mr Burnham said politicians in Greater Manchester had originally wanted £90m – £15m a month until the end of the financial year, arguing that the current level of government support is not enough for workers affected by business closures.

Speaking earlier, Mr Burnham said civic leaders were prepared to reduce their demand for financial support to £65m, which he said was the “bare minimum to prevent a winter of real hardship”.

“That is what we believe we needed to prevent poverty, to prevent hardship, to prevent homelessness,” Mr Burnham said.

“Those were the figures that we had – not what we wanted – but what we needed to prevent all of those things from happening.

“But the government refused to accept this and at 2pm today they walked away from negotiations.”

“At no point today were we offered enough to protect the poorest people in our communities through the punishing reality of the winter to come,” Mr Burnham added.

The mayor said he remained willing to strike a deal with Downing Street, “but it cannot be on the terms that the government offered today”.

And he called for MPs in parliament to agree a framework for other areas which will face the prospect of moving into Tier 3 in the future, in order to avoid the recriminations and wrangling seen in Greater Manchester.

Moving into Tier 3 means pubs and bars in Greater Manchester will be closed, unless they serve substantial meals, while betting shops, casinos, bingo halls, adult gaming centres and soft play areas will also shut.

Different households will also be banned from mixing indoors and outdoors, including in private gardens.

(c) Sky News 2020: Coronavirus: Greater Manchester to move into Tier 3, Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirms