Boris Johnson has given Greater Manchester leaders until midday to agree to an economic support deal or face having Tier 3 coronavirus restrictions imposed on them unilaterally.
In a statement Robert Jenrick,the Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary, said: ‘The deteriorating public health situation in Greater Manchester means that we need to take action urgently.
We have held discussions in good faith with local leaders for ten days in order to ensure that the measures put in place were tailored to the local community.
In the House of Commons, Rishi Sunak has confirmed that negotiations are ongoing over restrictions but has defended the Government’s stance
It is being reported that Greater Manchester’s leaders have asked for a minimum of £75m from central government, and are now waiting to hear if that’s been accepted.
Asked by Afzal Khan, the Labour MP for Manchester Gorton, why people in Manchester were suffering.
The Government he said had offered the region just £22m in return for it going into tier 3. That was just £8 a head whereas other places were given twice as much.
The Chancellor replies that£8 a head was the national baseline for regions entering tier 3. But extra sums were offered to Greater Manchester on top of that, he said. He said that offer was still available to the region.
Andrew Gwynne, MP for Denton and Reddish in Greater Manchester, argued that the lowest-paid could not afford to survive on what was being offered.
“Why does this Government hate Greater Manchester?” he asked
Earlier Andy Burnham said if restrictions are imposed they wouldn’t “break the law” and would accept the decision.
But he added he would say to the Government “is that a wise thing to do”.
If a “punishing lockdown” is placed on the region through the winter, “it’ll be the poorest people that will suffer as a result of that”, he said.
He added: “All of the experts, Chief Medical Officer, Chief Scientific Adviser, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, every single one of them has said to us that they are not certain Tier 3 would work, and the only way it’s got a chance of working is if you fully fund it so that lots of things will close so that it will have a maximum impact.”
Interviewed on BBC Breakfast the Mayor added saying that he’s worried about the public reaction if the government imposes a move to the Very High tier without a deal with local leaders.
