Today it was announced that Salford, along with the rest of Greater Manchester, would be entering tier 3 restrictions after the national lockdown ends on December 2nd.
While no politicians are actually opposing the tier placing, many take issue with the fact that those in Greater Manchester have been facing tough restrictions for months with insufficient support from the central government and have been reacting on Twitter to the news.
After his high-profile battle with the government over the lack of financial support in the run up to the current lockdown, Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, has issued a statement on the announcement.
In his statement, Burnham says that even though Greater Manchester’s infection rate is higher than the national average, it is reducing faster than any other part of the country and as a result, if the reduction rate is sustained, he will be asking the Government to lower Greater Manchester to tier 2.
He also states that they believe that the Government’s decision to provide the same level of support for businesses in tier 3, where many must close completely, as tiers 1 and 2, where some businesses may remain open, as “completely wrong”.
He calls for the Government to “explain how they believe it is fair for tier 3 areas to get no more support than those in tier 1 and 2”. He also wants them to explain why “places with high numbers of hospitality businesses – like city centres – get the same population-based grant as more suburban and rural areas with fewer businesses affected”.
Burnham stated that the whole policy was an act of “levelling-down” the north when the Government had promised to do the opposite.
You can read Burnham’s full statement here.
MP for Salford and Eccles, Rebecca Long-Bailey, said on Twitter that not providing more financial support was a “dereliction of duty” by the government.
Salford, GM & other areas had been under higher restrictions for months with insufficient financial support. Now Gov is putting us into tier 3 again, they must provide us with more extensive financial support. It’s a dereliction of duty to do otherwise. https://t.co/V0hIWkU2zA
— Rebecca Long-Bailey (@RLong_Bailey) November 26, 2020
Walkden Councillor, Laura Edwards says she is “absolutely fuming” and that the Conservative government is “forcing our industries to go bust and kicking us into poverty”.
We’ve been in a local lockdown since the end of July. Restrictions imposed haven’t worked, haven’t been amended to make them work and we aren’t being given the financial support we need. Tories are forcing our industries to go bust and kicking us into poverty. Absolutely fuming https://t.co/SlESIN4dtJ
— Laura Edwards (@lauraee_) November 26, 2020
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