Andy Burnham considering legal action if government ‘impose’ Tier 3 on Greater Manchester without consent

Andy Burnham has said he will consider legal action against the government if Tier 3 is imposed on Greater Manchester.

It comes following rumours that Greater Manchester will be heading to Tier 3 following recommendations from the government’s health bosses.

Reports from a meeting last night claim that the Joint Biosecurity Centre’s Gold Command ‘signed off’ on Tier 3 restrictions for Greater Manchester and Lancashire, with the final decision reportedly being announced today.

Tier 3 would move Greater Manchester into the highest alert level on the new tiering system. It would see the closure of hospitality and leisure businesses.

Mr Burnham has stated that this would be done by ‘imposition not by consent’.

Both the Liverpool Metro Mayor and Manchester Mayor have stated they are considering challenging this possibly through a joint class action.

Mr Burnham said his concerns lie with the impacts on self-employed people in the area and the security industry who would see their income collapse if hospitality businesses close.

He told reporters: “We won’t accept people having their jobs taken off them, their businesses taken off them without proper compensation and what I mean by that is 80pc furlough across the board. 

“We would consider other routes – legal routes – where we could protect our many thousands of residents who are going to be left in severe hardship in the run-up to Christmas.

“We would not just leave them in the lurch, we would try and support them and that would include any legal action we could take on their behalf.

“We might even consider some joint action in that space because we won’t let people just be sent to the wall.”

Liverpool city region mayor, Steve Rotheram added: “I think what we might well be talking about collectively is getting together and challenging this presumption that people can live on two-thirds of their wages.

“For me, it appears to be discriminatory that the government seems to be saying, we gave people 80pc in March but because it’s happening to somewhere in the Liverpool City Region you’re only going to be able to get two-thirds of your wage.

“We’re going to be having further discussions about whether we come together to see if there is a case to take forward.”

Mr Rotherham added that the city would use their own funds to create an extra furlough scheme to support workers in the meantime.

Despite his concerns, Mr Burnham has said that if Greater Manchester was moved to Tier 3 by the government without any agreement, he would not ask residents to defy the measures.

He said: “If the government insists that that is it and there’s no further discussion they would probably have to impose it. 

“I’m not saying that we would in any way ask people to defy it, obviously we respect the law of the land but it would be clear that it would have been done in that way, without our consent.”

The Manchester Mayor is set to meet with government this morning to learn our region’s fate, and whether we will be moved up to the highest alert level.

Local leaders and Greater Manchester MPs will speak to MP Helen Whatley at 10.45am, with London and Lancashire also talking to the government this morning about being moved up an alert level, Sky News reports.