Two million people in West Yorkshire to enter Tier 3 restrictions

More than two million people in West Yorkshire are moving into the highest level of coronavirus restrictions despite one council leader saying the support package will not be enough.

People living in Leeds, Bradford, Calderdale, Wakefield and Kirklees will join more than eight million others across northern England and the Midlands in Tier 3 from Monday morning.

Leeds City Council chief executive Tom Riordan said the authorities had secured a financial support package from the Government worth an additional £59.3 million.

Leeds City Council leader Judith Blake told a press conference this cash was additional to the existing business grant arrangements previously announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak for Tier 2, saying this was a “major policy shift” which justified the length of negotiations with officials and ministers.

But the leader of Bradford Council, Susan Hinchliffe, said: “Let’s be clear, further economic restrictions on Bradford and West Yorkshire are going to be damaging for businesses and jobs.

“There is a ‘template’ of funding available from Government to support these businesses but I do not think it will be enough.

“Neither were Government in the mood to give us more.

“Government are seriously underestimating the economic impact of these measures and we in West Yorkshire will challenge them to improve upon them.”