Greater Manchester will ‘stand firm and fight back’ against Tier Three restrictions, mayor Andy Burnham says

Greater Manchester will “stand firm” against being placed under the ‘very high’ Covid alert level, its mayor Andy Burnham has said in a highly charged press conference along with other leaders in the region.

Mr Burnham said the leaders of Greater Manchester are “fighting back” against restrictions they say are “flawed and unfair”.

He said the region is being treated as a “sacrificial lamb” by being asked by ministers to accept a proposal which the “government’s own advisers say won’t work”.

He said any lockdown in his region would have to have been implemented along with neighbouring regions “and even then it would not be certain to work”.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van Tam told Greater Manchester leaders in a call on Wednesday that a nationwide lockdown was the “only certain thing to work”, Mr Burnham added.

Greater Manchester had been expected to move into the ‘very high’ alert level – meaning all hospitality venues except restaurants would be closed and indoor household mixing would be banned – but it appears talks between the government and local leaders collapsed.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock, in a statement to MPs in which he had been expected to announce tighter restrictions for Greater Manchester, instead said discussions were still “on going”.

Local leaders had been locked in tense conversations with government representatives throughout Thursday, trying to secure financial support for their region before accepting a tightening of restrictions.

The mayor said it is “wrong” for some of the poorest parts of England to be put under a “punishing lockdown without proper support for the people and businesses affected”.

“To do so will result in certain hardship, job losses, business failure, he said, “it will cause harm in a different way to people’s mental health and is not certain to control the virus”.

Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council, said the government was asking the authority to sign up to measures that its own advisers were not convinced would work.

Speaking after Mr Burnham at the press conference, he asked: “Why would we accept a proposal that their own advisers say won’t work?”

Sir Richard said the region is “still in a position where we are prepared to work co-operatively with government”.

Covid tiers: What are the differences between each alert level?

But he added: “We are not going to accept a deal that will damage thousands of people in this city region for no apparent benefit.”

Both mayors said the government had not offered the necessary financial backing for tier 3 lockdown.

Mr Burnham added: “That is why we have unanimously opposed the Government’s plans for Tier 3. They are flawed and unfair.

“They are asking us to gamble our residents’ jobs, homes and businesses and a large chunk of our economy on a strategy that their own experts tell them might not work.

“We would never sign up for that.”