‘A total insult’: Greater Manchester MPs react with fury to government coronavirus ultimatum

Ministers say if no agreement reached by midday, strictest restrictions will be imposed anyway - without financial help requested

(Reuters)

Greater Manchester MPs have reacted with fury after the government told leaders there the strictest coronavirus restrictions would be imposed on the region if no agreement was reached by midday on Tuesday.

The ultimatum was made late on Monday night after a day of talks which went so badly that neither side appeared afterwards even able to agree on what had been talked about.

The proposed tier three measures – already in place in Lancashire and the Liverpool city region – would see pubs close and a ban placed on households meeting across Greater Manchester.

Crucially, it would not include the financial package for effected businesses and workers currently being demanded by leaders in the region, including Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham.

Now, after communities minister Robert Jenrick issued the surprise deadline , MPs of all political colours have slammed the move.

“It’s a total insult to people in this region to have their concerns reduced to a deadline like this,” Lucy Powell, MP for Manchester Central and shadow minister for business, told The Independent. ”This is the moment this government turned its back on the hard-working people of the north who voted for them less than a year ago.

“Greater Manchester has had nearly three months in what is the equivalent of tier two and now we’re looking at another three months in tier three, and the overall effect of that is devastating.

"Hard-working people – staff and business owners – are facing the reality of losing their livelihoods and life’s work and finding themselves on the scrap heap. For the government to refuse to engage with those concerns or offer financial support, it is an insult and it will have profound consequences for years to come.”

Afzal Khan, MP for Manchester Gorton, said the ultimatum was “deeply unhelpful”.

The Labour member told The Independent: “Greater Manchester needs sufficient financial support if we are to be expected to take on tier three restrictions, but the Government have yet to acknowledge this.

“Local leaders are trying to work constructively with Government officials to come to an agreement, however ministers declaring ultimatums late at night via the media is hardly helping the situation."

Andy Burnham said the government appeared to be trying to respond to the pandemic "on the cheap".

He told Sky News he had been impressed by the actions of chancellor Rishi Sunak in the spring and summer but added: "It does appear there's been an abrupt change since the summer, where it's the opposite now…

"It's particularly relevant isn't it when you then come to a regional lockdown, because by definition these are going to be divisive, and if you don't fully fund them you are going to widen the divides in society. 

"The danger for me of underfunded regional lockdown is that it becomes an act of leveling down from a government which said it would do the opposite."

Nor was the disquiet confined to Labour parliamentarians.

While none of the region’s nine Tory MPs have not spoken on the record about the new development, The Independent understands they were all thrown off guard by Mr Jenrick’s ultimatum and unanimously oppose it.

One told ITV News that the deadline would be “rebuffed” and that ministers had “totally misjudged the mood”.

In Mr Jenrick’s letter to Greater Manchester council leaders, released late on Monday night, he says the government is offering them £22m in financial support, which equates to approximately £8 per head for the 2.8m population.

It contrasts with an offer of £44m for Merseyside’s 1.5m population and Lancashire’s £42m for 1.5 million people.