MILLIONS more set to be plunged into full lockdown

... but Manchester move is met with anger

LARGE swathes of northern england could be placed into the highest level of lockdown as early as today despite anger from local leaders.

Greater Manchester, along with large parts of the North east, North West and Yorkshire, face going into the ‘very high risk’ category, according to Whitehall sources.

the move, recommended by the Government’s Joint Biosecurity Centre yesterday, would cover millions of people if confirmed.

a tier three rating would mean a ban on households mixing and the closure of pubs. It could also involve wider curbs, such as the closure of gyms and betting shops.

a decision will be made by senior ministers today.

Downing Street said Boris Johnson wanted to proceed by consensus but warned that local areas could ultimately be forced into the top tier if they refused to cooperate.

It came after andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, said he would sue the Government if it pushed ahead with placing the region in tier three without adequate financial support for businesses.

In a joint statement, Mr Burnham and the leaders of the ten local authorities in Greater Manchester insisted the area should remain in tier two as the rate of infection and hospital admissions are lower than in the Liverpool City region – which has been placed in tier three.

The mayor said his Greater Manchester region would consider a legal challenge if the Government placed it under the ‘very high risk’ category.

Mr Burnham said if the region is placed into tier three, it would be ‘by imposition, not consent’.

He added: ‘We are law-abiding people, we would respect the law of the land.

‘But 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.’

Mr Burnham said he thought a national ‘circuit-breaker’ lockdown would be a ‘better and fairer way’ of tackling the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Labour mayor said accepting tier three status without a financial package which included an 80 per cent furlough scheme would be to ‘commit an act of self-harm’.

He added that it would level down the region’s economy. however, a treasury source has ruled out any addition to the ‘ generous’ package of financial support already on offer to regions going into tier three.

the source said: ‘ We have put in place a generous system to support individuals and businesses affected by new restrictions. the Job Support Scheme is universal.

‘there is help for businesses that are able to open but are suffering low demand. and there is extra support for those businesses that are legally mandated to close.

‘It is not clear that there is any basis for these local leaders to be asking for more. We have covered all the bases.’

Meanwhile, Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford said english people would be hit with fines if they travelled to the principality from places such as Liverpool.

In Scotland, a poll showed a record surge in support for independence.

and Northern Ireland diverged from the rest of the UK by announcing plans for a four-week ‘circuit breaker’.

Mr Drakeford said Wales will ban entry to people from areas of the UK with high levels of coronavirus by Friday if Mr Johnson fails to impose UK wide travel restrictions. he told the Welsh Parliament he had asked for work on the travel ban to be brought forward after Mr Johnson failed to reply to two letters requesting he introduce the measure across the UK.

addressing the Senedd, Mr Drakeford said: ‘I have therefore asked for the necessary work to be brought forward which would allow for devolved powers to be used to prevent people travelling into Wales from high prevalence areas of the United Kingdom.’

and Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said that she supported Wales’s push for travel restrictions to be imposed.

She also said she would not rule out imposing similar restrictions of her own.

‘If we think putting formal travel restrictions in places necessary, we will do that and I don’t rule that out – I don’t rule anything out,’ she said.

Miss Sturgeon has advised Scots against travelling to high-risk areas of england as she singled out Blackpool as ‘associated with a large and growing number of Covid cases in Scotland’.

She warned Celtic and rangers fans that they should not travel to the Lancashire town to watch the Old Firm match in pubs on Saturday.

It came as a poll found that support for Scottish independence has surged to 58 per cent once ‘don’t know’ responses were removed.

‘Consider other routes’