Andy Burnham's plan to freeze mayoral tax on Greater Manchester residents set to be signed off

straight to your inbox every day for freeAndy Cole has warned that Manchester United will have to offer something more than name recognition if they want to entice Erling Haaland to Old Trafford.United have already missed out on Haaland once, with the Norwegian forward opting to move to Borussia Dortmund from RB Salzburg in January 2020, but they retain an interest in him thanks to his links with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer after the two worked together at Molde.

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Around 10 years ago, Bryan Blears walked out on his life.A failed relationship and depression had culminated in him dropping out of his law degree at Manchester University.He decided to pack it all in and embark on a new adventure - travelling to Europe and western Asia.As he left his Salford home, he told his family he was going on holiday for two weeks.But he didn't return for a year.His journey, in which he slept rough, lived on less than a pound a day and was spooked by a pack of wolves, was

direct to your inbox More than 5,500 people have died in Greater Manchester's hospitals alone after contracting coronavirus. And tragically, this number continues to rise everyday.

direct to your inboxGreater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has described harrowing body cam footage of an 'unlawfully killed' father begging to be freed as he was restrained by Metrolink-contracted staff as "one of the most distressing things you could see."He expressed sympathy to the friends and family of Jack Barnes, 29, who was pinned down outside Australasia restaurant on Deansgate in Manchester city centre.The dad-of-one had been involved in an altercation with staff at Victoria Station,

direct to your inboxBus and taxi drivers and teachers over the age of 50 should be given Covid jabs at the half-empty mass vaccination centre at the Etihad, say local leaders.Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, has repeated calls on the government to give local authorities greater flexibility over how to use spare capacity at the site.Covid jabs are said to be ‘sitting in fridges’ as people belonging to the four groups on the government's vaccine priority list are waiting to be called

direct to your inboxCoronavirus has brought heartache to thousands of families across Greater Manchester.More than 5,200 people have died in our region's hospitals alone. And tragically, this number is continuing to rise.

direct to your inboxHundreds of people have called a helpline for crime victims unhappy with how Greater Manchester Police has handled their cases.The crime support line was established by mayor Andy Burnham after the force failed to record 80,000 crimes in a year - including one in four violent crimes.But the helpline will be closed down from tomorrow (Friday February 19) due to a ‘very low number’ of new callers in recent weeks.There have been 240 calls to the helpline since it launched in

direct to your inboxThe NHS has confirmed the deaths of 18 more patients in hospitals in Greater Manchester who had tested positive for coronavirus.Nationally, a further 309 hospital deaths were reported on Thursday.Of those, 42 were in hospitals in the north west region.Six further deaths have been recorded at Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, with five more at Stockport NHS Foundation Trust.Three further deaths were recorded at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust and at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh

direct to your inboxA 'very large' yoga gathering held in breach of coronavirus restrictions was broken up and a £10,000 Covid-19 fine issued, civic leaders have revealed.The gathering in Stockport was revealed today by the region's deputy mayor, Bev Hughes.No exact location - or other details - were revealed.It's not known whether the gathering was held indoors or outside.But Ms Hughes, speaking during an update on the pandemic situation across Greater Manchester hosted by mayor Andy Burnham,

direct to your inboxGreater Manchester residents will see the amount they pay in council tax towards mayoral functions carried out by Andy Burnham frozen from April.The combined authority agreed that increasing the precept would place a burden on people already struggling through the Covid-19 pandemic.With council tax set by local authorities already expected to rise in the coming years, leaders renewed calls on the government to provide them with more funding.A meeting of the Greater Manchester

was found dead after sleeping rough in the doorway of Marks and Spencer in Manchester city centre.

direct to your inboxThe Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester held a closed meeting with Trafford council this week to discuss policing, following the city-region’s police force being placed into special measures.The meeting came after local calls for Mayor Andy Burnham to set out an action plan to bring Greater Manchester Police ‘up to scratch’ in Trafford.Conservative members of the council criticised the fact that the meeting was held in private and felt members of the public,

direct to your inbox Andy Burnham has hired external consultants to review Greater Manchester Police’s response to last year’s damning inspection report.

direct to your inboxNew details have emerged about the new jobs and housing masterplan which will replace the scrapped Greater Manchester Spatial Framework.Council leaders of nine of the city-region’s boroughs, along with mayor Andy Burnham, will meet to consider the next steps for ‘Places For Everyone’ this week.

hereBut what will the weather do in Greater Manchester today?There are no severe weather warnings for the majority of our region, but snow could fall in some places.However, an amber weather warning for snow is in place in Rochdale and a yellow warning for snow in Tameside, Oldham and Stockport until midnight.Here's our hour-by-hour forecast for the region for Monday.7am: Light snow. Temperature is 0C but feels like -5C.8am: Sunny intervals.

direct to your inbox Andy Burnham has called for poorer parts of the country to be given additional supplies of the coronavirus vaccine. The Greater Manchester Mayor said that more jabs should be given in areas where life expectancy is lower.Speaking to Sky News' Sophy Ridge On Sunday, he said there should be 'greater flexibility' within the vaccine roll out programme so that people can be called up earlier.

direct to your inboxGreater Manchester Police ‘deliberately’ failed to properly answer the mayor’s questions on its hugely troublesome computer system, Andy Burnham and his deputy have claimed. Last Friday the mayor had appeared before a scrutiny panel to describe a litany of failures within the force, arguing there had recently been a ‘persistent and repeated underplaying of problems’ at ‘the most senior level’, including, ‘at worst’, information being deliberately withheld.

direct to your inboxA failure to guarantee wages and offer support for people during self-isolation is 'unpicking the chain' when it comes to controlling coronavirus.Mayor Andy Burnham has heralded Greater Manchester's local test and trace system for tracking down more than 16,000 people who were missed by the national programme within the 24-hour target.The success of the local push to test and trace cases and contacts in high risk settings like prisons, homeless shelters and care homes, has

coronavirus pandemic.Speaking as part of Independent Venue Week’s Culture Panel last week (January 28), Burnham said the industry had a responsibility to protect beleaguered venues which have faced the threat of financial ruin.Proposing a new levy, Burnham likened it to his own role in the formation of the Football Foundation, which was established in 2000 to provide funding for grassroots football facilities.“The industry has to pay a levy to support grassroots venues, because that is their