North East will tell No 10 to 'sod off' if they try to impose Tier 3 Northern cities told they could be next after Manchester Coronavirus latest news: Police advise pubs to check IDs to stop drinkers breaking rules 'Brexit is like moving house' Gove tells business in 'disastrous' call Subscribe to The Telegraph The Government should have imposed Tier 3 restrictions on Greater Manchester "a few days ago" but were unable to because of the stand-off with local leaders, a Cabinet minister has said. Robert Jenrick insisted the situation in the area was "serious and deteriorating", although conceded there was "evidence of [coronavirus] plateauing in the centre of Manchester". Talks took 11 days because the mayor Andy Burnham had been "adamant he had to have a better deal than his neighbours". "We probably in honesty should have acted a few days ago but we hadn't been able to reach an agreement with the mayor of Greater Manchester," he added. Asked why Mr Burnham found out about the £20m deal live on air, the Communities Secretary said "he didn't". Mr Jenrick claimed he had told Andy Burnham at 2pm what Manchester would be receiving, adding: "I am not in the slightest bit interested in point scoring," he added. "I am not interested in showboating or personalities - I am interested in public health....regardless of personalities we will provide [Manchester] the support they deserve." Mr Jenrick said "very productive" conversations have taken place with the mayor of Sheffield Dan Jarvis about putting that region into Tier 3. The Government is "on the cusp of an agreement with South Yorkshire", he added. "Those discussions are coming to a conclusion this morning, I hope," he said. An announcement will be made "shortly". Follow the latest updates below.
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