BREAK: The Leaders of all ten councils in Greater Manchester, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham and Deputy Mayor Baroness Bev Hughes have released their unified position on the Government’s announcement introducing tiers of restrictions. 1/

Statement reads: "The health of the people in the city-region is paramount and our primary focus continues to be on driving down the rates of Covid infection." 2/

'We wrote to the Government over the weekend putting forward a strong set of proposals for Greater Manchester building on Tier 2 with additional measures which will protect public health and maintain economic activity." 3/

"To be placed in Tier 2 for a defined period of no more than 4 weeks with clarity between regulation and guidance." 4/

GMCA proposed to set curfew at 11pm. This "allows for a more managed exit" from pubs and bars ( to stop people going to supermarkets for more booze. They also asked for more powers to close down premises breaking the rules 5/

GMCA are holding to their position they should not be placed into Tier 3 - for two reasons 6/

Reason 1: the evidence does not currently support it. The rate of Covid infection in Greater Manchester is much lower, at 357.6 cases per 100,000, compared to Liverpool City Region which is in Tier 3 at 488.0 cases per 100,000. 7/

Reason 2: the financial package accompanying Tier 3 is nowhere near sufficient to prevent severe hardship, widespread job losses and business failure. 8/

"For that reason, we believe the Tier 3 proposal is fundamentally flawed," says the statement 9/

"We therefore reject the Government’s current drive to pile pressure on places to enter Tier 3." GMCA says it takes "issue" with offer of test and trace control as an incentive saying this should be offered to tiers 1 and 2 where it would be more effective. 10/

Statement ends by saying it welcomes more discussion with government and that if the financial support to tier 3 is not boosted, then "a number of leaders in GM" believes a national circuit break would be preferable option.

ends