local leaders in the north of england
say the financial help being offered by
the government
isn't enough to protect their
communities from hardship as parts of
the country face tighter covert 19 rules
from next week
at a press conference of labour mayors
andy burnham who's mayor of greater
manchester
said many businesses in the north were
already on a knife edge
the government is due to announce a
tiered system of restrictions on monday
with areas facing different rules
depending on how quickly cases are
spreading
our political correspondent chris mason
reports
eating out in 2020 hasn't been
straightforward
working in hospitality has been
incredibly tough
those employed at this pizzeria in the
northern quarter in manchester
are worried it's just difficult i don't
know how long it'll be going on for i
don't know how i'll be able to get by on
it
obviously i've got a lot of money coming
out all the time but not enough coming
in
gas electric all of it and obviously
being at home all the time it's going to
be more rather than me being out of the
house at work
yesterday the government said those who
work for businesses forced to shut
because of new coronavirus restrictions
will get
two-thirds of their wages paid for by
the government
but this afternoon four labour mayors in
the north of england
said that wasn't good enough because to
say to
to to us on a friday evening that it's
non-negotiable
that some of our lowest-paid workers
will be pushed into hardship
it's non-negotiable that they're going
to be in debt as they go into christmas
well i'm sorry but i am not accepting a
statement of that kind
when the state says you know you may not
go to work
you may not trade then people should be
getting 100
compensation being paid two-thirds of
your wages
especially if you're on minimum wage
it's not acceptable
the mayors of the sheffield and
liverpool city regions made a similar
argument
and they're not alone today almost 30
conservative mps from the north of
england
have set up a new group to press their
case
the government has to continue to back
business until the end of this pandemic
however that may look
because if we don't do that frankly all
the money we've spent already
has been wasted but levels of the virus
vary widely this is belford in
northumberland where the proportion of
people testing positive
is below average for england but like
much of the northeast of england
people here are living under tighter
restrictions than many
what we think we have now is about right
we think it's working
i think to bring in anything more in
some areas of the county would be wrong
and it wouldn't be adhered to
back in manchester conversation about
the pandemic
and any coming restrictions is rarely
far away
there doesn't seem to be any basis for
it we don't know what government's
asking us to do we don't know why it's
happening
it's a bit of a mistake personally i
think to close the pubs i think the
people that aren't following the rules
are going to continue to not follow the
rules i think we've got money to be
honest we've done quite
quite enough to help to help people out
because
no matter what people do it's never good
enough
questions about health the economy
accountability and
blame are everywhere and uncertainty
stalks the future chris is here with me
now chris what's the government saying
about these criticisms from local
leaders and do we know anything more
about the new restrictions
so the government says that its priority
throughout the crisis has been to
protect jobs they say
that they have provided an unprecedented
level of support and they say
that it is generous when compared to
similar
european economies the key question now
rita is
what are these restrictions going to be
and where are they going to be
imposed we're getting some sense for
instance of how it might pan out so it
looks like the rules in greater
manchester
will be a little looser than those on
merseyside we'll get the details though
from the prime minister
when he addresses the commons on monday
and there are ongoing calls this weekend
between regional leaders
and the government trying to reach
conclusions
tonight interestingly an opinion poll
from ipsos murray suggests that
people in britain are strongly in favor
of stricter measures where necessary
to control the spread of the virus and
when you look back at
polling throughout the pandemic the
proportion who are in favor of stricter
measures
is marginally higher than any point
since may so this as governments and us
as individuals
continue to wrestle with these painful
trade-offs of lives
liberties and livelihoods okay chris
many thanks