Pubs and restaurants from Greater Manchester begin legal action to stop new local lockdown restrictions

Greater Manchester leaders and hospitality businesses are preparing a legal challenge to new lockdown restrictions being announced later today. 

A new three-tiered local lockdown system is set to be announced today when the prime minister addresses the House of Commons at 3:30pm. 

According to many reports, it is believed that Manchester will be placed in the Tier 3 category, which is the category that will house the ‘very high risk’ areas.

It will mean pubs, bars and possibly restaurants will close in the area. 

Negotiations are being made between local leaders on how the lockdown will look in the areas.

Five Manchester MP’s signed a letter addressed to Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak saying they would oppose any closures as the data ‘would not seem to support a rationale for your proposed measures’.

Night Time Economy Advisor, Sacha Lord, has confirmed he has instructed lawyers to ‘begin a Judicial Review into the legality of the emergency restrictions due to be imposed on the hospitality and entertainment sectors’.

Along with Sacha Lord, The Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), The British Beer and Pub Association, Middleton brewery JW Lees, Manchester’s Joseph Holts Brewery, Stockport’s Robinsons Brewery, the New River Pub Company, Hawthorn Leisure, and operators across Greater Manchester including Alberts Schloss, 20 Stories, San Carlo, Wood Restaurant, Gusto, Living Ventures, Evuna, The Alchemist, O’Sheas and Atlas Bar are all supporting the move. 

Sacha Lord has asked the government for the scientific basis behind the rules, adding: “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.”

Chief executive of the NTIA, Michael Kill, said: “The industry has been left with no other option but to legally challenge the so called ‘common sense’ approach narrative from Government, on the implementation of further restrictions across the North of England.

“These new measures will have a catastrophic impact on late night businesses, and are exacerbated further by an insufficient financial support package presented by the Chancellor in an attempt to sustain businesses through this period.

“This next round of restrictions are hugely disproportionate and unjust, with no scientific rationale or correlation to PHE transmission rates, when compared to other key environments.

“Systematic closure of businesses across the UK must be challenged when there is no clear evidence or reason.”

Manchester City Council Leader, Sir Richard Leese told the Times Radio yesterday that there was a ‘large gulf’ between the government and the city in ongoing discussions of further restrictions. 

He said: “We seem to have an almost impossible task of penetrating the Westminster bubble”.

He added that there is ‘no evidence closing pubs works’ according to the council’s own data. 

He also explained that the government had talked about a four-week ‘sunset’ clause to review the restrictions but that there is ‘not clarity’ on the issue.

The new restrictions are expected to come into play on Wednesday at 5pm, according to The Telegraph.

Any business forced to close their doors is reportedly expected to see two-thirds of each employee’s monthly wages of up to £2,100 paid by government.

A Downing Street spokesperson added that this is a ‘critical juncture’ and that Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s expansion of the Jobs Support Scheme will ‘protect jobs and enable businesses to reopen quickly once restrictions are lifted’.

Ed Miliband explained that fewer than just one in 15 jobs will benefit from the scheme when businesses are forced to shut down. For instance those working in industries which are not ‘legally closed’ but have been forced to shut like events, weddings and cinemas won’t receive the money.