Mayor Andy Burnham will recommend counter-offer to council leaders after condemning government ultimatum
- Burnham condemns late-night Greater Manchester ultimatum
- Firm gets £10m to infect young volunteers to hasten Covid vaccine
- Rapid one-hour tests begin at Heathrow airport
- Global coronavirus updates – live
Steve Rotheram, the mayor of Liverpool city region, which is already subject to the tier 3 strictest restrictions, says he is exploring how the extra funding given to the area to compensate for the tighter rules can be used to help people not supported by the national government schemes. Taxi drivers and the self-employed could benefit in particular, he says.
There have been some questions about whether we can use some of the funding we have secured from the government to assist those who have forgotten by national schemes – specifically taxis drivers and the self-employed.
In short: we are working on it, so watch this space. pic.twitter.com/3Sjr7EDSfT
In the Commons yesterday Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said further talks were planned this week with South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, the north-east and Teesside about those areas entering the strictest tier 3 Covid restrictions.
Last night Shane Moore, the independent leader of Hartlepool borough council, said that his response to any proposal of this kind would be “sod off”.
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
