Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak among ministers who spoke of Covid 'punishment beating' for Greater Manchester
20.12.2023 - 10:15
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
The government ministers and officials who spoke of a 'punishment beating' for Greater Manchester during the pandemic when local leaders resisted tougher Covid restrictions without adequate funding have been named. Andy Burnham's behaviour during his stand-off with the government in autumn 2020 was described as 'appalling' at the meeting attended by the UK's top politicians and advisers.
The Greater Manchester mayor revealed some of the contents of the minutes from that meeting when he appeared at the Covid inquiry last month. The minutes from the Covid-O cabinet committee meeting he referred to have now been published by the inquiry.
The meeting took place on October 15, 2020 - one week before Tier 3 measures were forced on Greater Manchester despite the government failing to reach an agreement over a financial support package for businesses and staff affected. In the meeting, it was suggested that Lancashire should have a lighter set of measures imposed because leaders there 'showed willingness to cooperate'.
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It was also proposed that the tougher measures should be imposed on Greater Manchester 'that day'. However, negotiations between local leaders and the government continued until October 20 when Mr Burnham was informed dramatically during a press conference in Manchester city centre that the city-region would get around a third of the funding requested after councils agreed to contribute towards some of the costs.
Greater Manchester had asked for £90m to support businesses and staff affected by the Tier 3 measures, but later dropped the
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