Greater Manchester mayor says there is ‘clear case’ to ease Covid curbs
Greater Manchester #GreaterManchester
Few areas in England are likely to be released from the toughest Covid restrictions on Thursday in the first review of the system, despite calls for Greater Manchester to be moved to tier 2.
Ministers met on Wednesday evening to finalise the re-assessment, demanded by furious MPs when it was announced last month that 99% of England would be in tiers two or three.
However, two government sources suggested any changes were expected to be modest, compared with the decision earlier this week to place London and nearby areas in to tier 3, with places more likely to be moving up a level than down.
Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, said there was a “clear case” to relax Covid restrictions across a large part of his region.
About 34 million people – 60% of England’s population – are expected to face winter under tier 3, the toughest regulations, with pubs and restaurants forced to close until the new year. A formal announcement is expected to be made by the health secretary, Matt Hancock, on Thursday.
Burnham said Greater Manchester’s overall infection rate was “significantly below” England’s average – 150 cases per 100,000 people compared with about 180 for England – and that it was lower than London and Liverpool’s case rate when those cities were placed in tier 2.
Video: Liverpool City Region latest infection rate on December 15 (Liverpool Echo)
Liverpool City Region latest infection rate on December 15
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“I accept that the national mood has changed since those decisions were taken and I can also understand if the government were wanting to err on the side of caution,” he said.
“Some of our boroughs are above the national average or close to it, so we could understand if a cautious decision was taken in respect of those but there is a clear case for Greater Manchester, a large part of Greater Manchester, to be placed in tier 2.”
Privately, MPs, council leaders and health officials across the north of England said they expected their areas to remain in the tightest restrictions at least for another fortnight, amid growing concern about the effect of loosening the rules to allow some social mixing over Christmas.
Others, including the Conservative MP Nigel Evans, are urging ministers to take a more localised approach to the restrictions, allowing them to be lifted in areas with lower infection rates instead of a blanket rule for an entire region.
Burnham said he was “not at all convinced” that the two strictest tiers of restrictions were bringing down infections, saying the closure of hospitality over the festive period risked more people gathering in homes and the opening of non-essential retail was a “significant driver of spread”.
MPs in north-west England had a meeting with the health minister, Ed Argar, on Thursday last week when, sources said, they were given the impression that Lancashire and Greater Manchester would remain under the strictest Covid rules.
However, Argar is said to have told MPs there was “potentially more flexibility” around some local authorities moving into a lower tier.
This would please the leaders of some Greater Manchester councils – including Manchester, Stockport and Trafford – but others were concerned it would lead to their residents flooding into Manchester city centre to party over Christmas.
One leader said there was a “cautious majority” in the region who believed Greater Manchester was “borderline” tier 2 but that the risks of relaxing the rules over the festive period were high.
In West Yorkshire, the Leeds city council leader, Judith Blake, said on Monday she had hoped for the city to be placed in tier 2 – but added that this was a “finely balanced judgment” and that it came with risks.
The latest seven-day infection rate in Leeds remains below the average for England, at just over 130 cases per 100,000, however it is above the average in nearby Bradford.