Boris Johnson is set to address the nation on Monday to outline new coronavirus measures that will see pubs and gyms shut down again as new restrictions are placed on England’s hardest-hit regions.
A widely trailed three-tier system dividing the country into medium, high and very high alert levels will be rolled out, setting the stage for a major tightening of lockdown rules as the country heads into the winter months.
But the prime minister faces a growing revolt among northern leaders over the levels of financial support offered to businesses and workers forced to stay at home.
The communities secretary Robert Jenrick on Sunday ruled out meeting northern demands for more cash, warning that “the national debt is rising”, telling workers “we can’t do everything” to protect all jobs.
The mayors of Greater Manchester, Merseyside, North Tyne, and Sheffield city region over the weekend branded the chancellor’s latest support plan “insufficient” and said it would see “communities plunged into hardship”.
The scheme covers two-thirds of wages and only applies to workers in specific sectors – a design that leaders said would “level down the north of England and widen the north-south divide”.
On Sunday afternoon Mr Johnson held a cabinet meeting with his ministers by phone ahead of what is expected to be the most significant day for coronavirus policy in months. He will chair a top-level Cobra committee meeting on Monday “to determine the final interventions” and he will then announce to parliament before a televised address, Downing Street said.
But with less than 24 hours to go before the announcement, some local authorities are understood to still be locked in negotiations about what category they will be put into.
Liverpool, where hospital admissions have climbed in recent weeks as coronavirus cases soared, is to be designated the highest alert level. But Greater Manchester and Lancashire, which also have among the highest infection rates in the country, are reportedly not expected to fall under the strictest restrictions at this stage.
The highest category is expected close down pubs and bars, and other services like gyms, betting shops and casinos – although confusion still remains about whether restaurants serving food will be totally shuttered. There were also reports that overnight stays would be banned in the areas under the highest alert level.
Mayors and Labour say new restrictions must be accompanied by increased support.
In a joint statement issued late on Sunday, Liverpool’s city leaders said they shared the “grave concerns” about rising pressure on the region’s hospitals but had not yet reached an agreement with the government on” the wider economic support package that will be required as we go into Tier 3″.
“Businesses in the region especially those in the hospitality sector and those serving it will be damaged and many will suffer long-term damage or close for good,” they added. “If pubs, bars and other hospitality and leisure businesses are forced to close, there must be appropriate support for them and their staff.”
Sacha Lord, night time economy adviser to the Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, has started legal proceedings to challenge any impending government restrictions on hospitality and entertainment venues across the north of England.
He said: “There is currently no tangible scientific evidence to merit a full closure of the hospitality and entertainment sectors.
“Our discussions and ongoing calls for evidence have been ignored and we have therefore been left with little choice but to escalate the matter further.”
Responding to demands for better support for workers and businesses, Mr Jenrick told Sky News: “We can’t do everything. We’re in a deep recession, the national debt is rising.
“I think most reasonable people would see that the chancellor’s put in place an unprecedented package of support.
“This is a good safety net for those individuals but we understand that it will be very difficult for them. The winter is going to be a very challenging one and we can’t promise to protect every job or every business.
“We can promise to offer hope and opportunity to those individuals who want to or will need to look for new jobs and opportunities.”
The refusal to improve the support package for people hit by the lockdown comes amid disquiet on the Conservative Party’s right wing over the amount of public money being spent by the chancellor Rishi Sunak.
But proponents of extra support point out that public borrowing is currently effectively free because of negative interest rates, making it a good time for the government to spend money.
The new scheme pays two-thirds of wages compared to 80 per cent on the previous furlough scheme, and only covers businesses whose premises are forced to close by law rather than indirectly shut because of economic pressures. Labour estimates that the scheme will cover just 6.5 per cent of the jobs in restricted or shut down sectors.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Reynolds said there was “anger and frustration” in his Greater Manchester constituency and across the north at the government’s approach and that “people think they’ve been treated with contempt and not with respect”.
He said the government had squandered its opportunities to tackle the virus, adding: “The fact is there are going to have to be further measures and the reason for that is the government have lost control: they’ve lost control of the messaging, they’ve lost control of test and trace, they’ve lost control of the virus unfortunately. That means we are going to have to have further measures: that wasn’t inevitable. But the crucial point is this: further restrictions have to come with economic support.
“The situation for businesses here in my constituency is not acceptable. How can they plan for next week? They’ve had nine weeks of very restrictive local restrictions, that has had a huge impact on them, of course it has – and now we find out we will learn tomorrow [Monday] what is going on. The prime minister’s got to get a grip on this, he’s got to come to parliament – but [it is] crucial any further restrictions have to come with extra support.”
Mr Burnham had a similar stark message for the government. “If you go ahead with this financial package, in my view, that will be to break what the government said it would do when they were elected,” he told Times Radio.
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“If they continue with this, jobs will be lost, businesses will collapse, the fragile economies of the north will be shattered.
“The government has a real choice here, if it proceeds on the path it is on, in my view, the central so-called mission of this government to level-up will be over.”
But responding to criticism of the substance and style of the government’s announcement Mr Jenrick said: “I think that is a very significant intervention. It’s building on the winter economy plan that the chancellor had set out two weeks ago, it was very well received, it was supported by the TUC and the CBI.
“As you say it ensures that those workers in businesses that are asked to close by law are then able to receive two-thirds of their unearned wages. We’re also providing those business grants to the small and medium sized businesses that need them.”
He claimed that the government had worked closely with local leaders on the plan, adding: “I appreciate that people working in certain sectors and business owners will be feeling very concerned but we’ve set out, I think, a fair and generous package to support them. We’ve spent the weekend working with those local leaders: it’s not correct what you heard from Jonathan Reynolds that there hasn’t been good communication, I’ve spent the whole weekend talking to leaders on Merseyside and Greater Manchester and from other parts of the country.”
