Covid: New tiers 'not up for negotiation' after Manchester row

Matt Hancock said the battle with Greater Manchester over funding had been "bad for public health".

The government is defending a decision not to negotiate with local authorities over which coronavirus tiers they will be in when lockdown ends next week.

Matt Hancock said the battle in October with Greater Manchester over funding when it was moved it into Tier 3 had been "bad for public health".

He said it would not happen again under the new system coming in next month.

The row saw Labour mayor Andy Burnham strongly object to plans to put the region into the strictest restrictions.

Before the second national lockdown in England, ministers undertook negotiations with local authorities in order to settle on a package of measures to control rising rates of coronavirus infection in their areas, along with financial support to help mitigate any impact.

But the Labour mayor accused ministers at the time of treating the region as a "sacrificial lamb" by asking it to accept a proposal which the "government's own advisers say won't work".

Labour mayor Andy Burnham strongly objected to plans to put the region into the strictest restrictions

Under new tiers announced by the Prime Minister on Monday, due to come into force once the lockdown ends on 2 December, there will no longer be a set of negotiations with local areas, with ministers instead relying on a formula to decide which areas are placed in what tier.

The allocation of tiers will be dependent on a number of factors, including each area's case numbers, the reproduction rate - or R number - and the current and projected pressure on the NHS locally.

Mr Hancock told MPs: "The reason we are doing it differently is, whilst in most cases when we negotiated with most areas in the previous tiered arrangement, we had a high quality discussion which led to better outcomes.

"A case in point is Liverpool, where the case rate has fallen by over two thirds in the last three weeks.

"Unfortunately that wasn't the case in all local areas."

Asked by Labour MP Graham Stringer whether he was referring to Greater Manchester, Mr Hancock said: "That would be one example but not the only one.

"Sadly, in the case of Greater Manchester, cases carried on going up whilst we were trying to put in place the measures that were necessary.

"So, instead, we've proposed a set of measures within the tiers which are fixed, also financial support which is agreed by formula rather than negotiation.

"We will have engagement but what we won't have is a two-week long negotiation while the cases still go up. That is bad for public health."

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Burnham accused the government of "walking away" from negotiations with him and ten other council leaders.

He further accused ministers of ignoring advice to bring forward a national circuit breaker lockdown in September.