SOUTH Yorkshire will be plunged into a Tier 3 lockdown from Saturday – with Sheffield, Rotherham, Doncaster and Barnsley facing tougher rules after a £41million deal.
Around 1.8million people will go into extra restrictions, Sheffield’s Mayor Dan Jarvis announced today.
Mr Jarvis said today: “Our Council leaders and I have secured £41m funding from Govt to support our people and businesses as we move to Tier 3.
“We’ve taken action to protect both lives and livelihoods as pressure increases on our #NHS. The new rules start at 0001 on Sat 24 Oct.”
Pubs and bars which can’t serve food will have to shut, along with soft play areas, betting shops and casinos.
Gyms and leisure centres can stay open – as it was confirmed that they will reopen in Liverpool after being ordered to shut.
But group classes will have to stop.
No wedding receptions will be allowed.
As in tier 2, people will be unable to mix inside with other households – unless they are part of a support bubble.
People will be advised not to travel in or out of the region unless it’s essential – and to try and stay off public transport if they can.
£11million extra cash will be given to the area to help local track and trace, and another £30million for business support for those who have to shut.
They will be able to claim two thirds of their wages from the Government under a new local furlough scheme, but Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said this wasn’t enough.
Leaders in northern regions have been previously warned that more could follow Manchester into tough new restrictions after days of battling between mayor Mr Burnham and No10 over cash.
The news comes just hours after Manchester was confirmed to be going into Tier 3 – but no such funding deal has yet been reached.
The Government say the £60million is still on the table but an agreement is still not there.
It comes as:
- Greater Manchester will go into tier three from 12.01am on Friday, but at the moment there has not been a financial deal
- The PM said he was left with no choice but to impose the measures to “save lives” as local hospitals were filling up with Covid patients
- Last night, Matt Hancock the Health Secretary warned further measures could be needed in Nottinghamshire – and West Yorkshire could also follow Manchester into Tier 3
- Teesside and the north-east would not move into the top tier yet despite being in discussions with the Government because there are “early signs” that cases are “starting to flatten”
- The deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam said last night that a circuit breaker wouldn’t be right at the moment
In a day of high drama between Westminster and Manchester, talks finally collapsed with the two sides just £5m apart.
Sources said Mr Burnham lost out because his “pride” got in the way and he had also demanded a bigger support package than those received by leaders in Liverpool and Lancashire, which the PM said would not be fair.
Boris’ final offer of £60m was rejected by Mr Burnham, who was holding out for £65m – after the pair were locked in a 10-day clash over the size of the bailout for workers and businesses.
News cameras caught the moment Mr Burnham allegedly found out the region would be going into the third tier.
Mr Burnham was shown a phone screen by Manchester City Council leader Richard Leese that said the area would be put into the tier at 12.01am on Friday for “£20m only and they’re going to try to pick off individual councils”.
He blasted the PM’s “brutal” offer.
NARROW PATH
Mr Johnson said the country is on a “narrow path” – and that he can’t “rule out” further measures.
However, he is still resisting pressure for a full nationwide ‘circuit-breaker’ lockdown – and one of his top academics said it wouldn’t be fair.
England’s deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam said during the Downing Street press conference: “Pretty much everywhere in England is now heating up to some extent.
“We are trying to walk a very fine line between getting the virus under control in areas where it’s out of control, and incurring the minimum amount of economic damage in doing so.
“In the areas where it is out of control, hard measures are needed.
“But do I think right now it is appropriate to insist on similar hard measures in, for example, south-west England or Kent, where levels of disease are really very, very much lower than in the North of England?
“No, I don’t think that’s right.”
Following the collapse of talks with Mr Burnham, Mr Johnson said it was “unfortunate” that measures would need to be pushed through.
However, he added that “given the public health situation, not to act would put Manchester’s NHS, and the lives of many Manchester residents, at risk”.
A deal for tier three measures collapsed when Mr Burnham apparently refused to accept £60million offered by the Government because he wanted an extra £5million.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Greater Manchester has been given £22million for testing and contact tracing – and that the offer of £60million for business support is still on the table if Mr Burnham “picks up the phone”.
But the mayor said: “Is this a game of poker with people’s lives?
“Are the Government trying to put pressure on people to take as little as they can possibly get away with?”
The failed negotiations have led to a furious backlash already, with one ‘red wall’ Tory MP accusing the Government of an “overwhelming failure”.
And leaders in the north-east have said they will tell Boris Johnson to “sod off” if he tries to impose harsh tier three rules on them.
The leader of Hartlepool Borough Council, Shane Moore, tweeted on Monday evening: “Apparently it was announced in the House of Commons earlier that there were talks happening in relation to #Hartlepool & wider #TeesValley going into Tier 3.
“This is untrue.
“No talks with us since update on Friday & if anyone suggests it to me this week they’ll be told to sod off.”
