the labour mayor of greater manchester
andy burnham has continued to clash with
the government over lockdown
restrictions for the region
mr burnham wants greater financial
support if the strictest measures are
introduced
he has today spoken with a senior
downing street advisor but he earlier
accused boris johnson
of exaggerating the severity of
coronavirus in the area
his words were echoed by the senior
conservative mp segrene brady whose
constituency is in the region
the cabinet office minister michael gove
accused mr burnham of
inconsistency in his approach here's our
deputy political editor vicky young
waiting for work and waiting to find out
what's coming next for greater
manchester
taxi driver john says for months the
tighter rules here
compared to many other parts of the
country have meant fewer passengers
he's worried about the possibility of
even more restrictions
we need help up in and off if they want
to bring these things in you know they
need financial backing because otherwise
it's going to be
even worse again this has been going on
for a long time now and nothing seems to
be resolved
i know covered's not just going to
disappear overnight but
people who work whether it be in payers
were unemployment self-employed
businesses
they all need help otherwise we still
got bills to pay
for days politicians here and in london
have been trying to reach an agreement
the region's labour mayor andy burnhams
accused the government of exaggerating
manchester's rise in covet cases
and says more restrictions must mean
more financial support
what we need is a fair financial
framework if the governments are going
to insist on tier three at the moment
they're doing side deals
with individual councils that isn't good
enough for me
let's remember the places they're trying
to close in tier three pubs
bookies gyms these are places where
people are on low wages
and what we're saying is you cannot take
away
their place of work and not give them
support
mr burnham says he hasn't seen any
scientific evidence that extra measures
would work
but ministers insist action is needed
soon
the fundamental increase in the position
of andy burnham is that uh
on the one hand as i say he says
actually
the virus is not spreading at a rate
that merits these restrictions
and then he's saying but actually i will
have them
if i have the money if you were being
truly
truly concerned about public health then
he would say
let's have these restrictions now and
the other thing is i'm sorry earlier we
have the restrictions
the answer in those areas where there is
high instance
the better for the economy of those
areas because we stop the infection
spreading in a way
which will do further damage to the
economy as well as to public health
it's not just labor politicians who are
skeptical some conservative
mps in the area have also been speaking
out
manchester is pretty united certainly
the
members of parliament of both parties
the council leaders of both parties
and the mayor of greater manchester have
been resisting a move to
tier three on the basis that we simply
haven't been given the evidence
that it would be effective rising cases
are forcing politicians everywhere into
action
welsh government ministers met this
afternoon to discuss options for a
further tightening of restrictions
across wales
the first minister has said that a short
sharp lockdown
could slow the spread of the virus vicki
young bbc news
let's speak now to our health
correspondent dominic hughes who's in
salford in greater manchester
and dominic what do the figures there
tell us of what's going on
well rita the question i think many
people in greater manchester might be
asking themselves tonight
is whether the situation here is grave
and worsening with
cases doubling every nine days which is
how the prime minister described the
situation on friday or whether
the mayor of greater manchester andy
burnham is right to describe that
as an exaggeration well since the 1st of
september we can see the infection rate
in the city of manchester on this chart
the blue line
rose sharply for the first few weeks
around the same time that thousands of
students returned to the city
at the start of the university year but
in the days leading up to the 10th of
october
it has since declined now over the same
period the wider region of greater
manchester the line in red which
includes nine other boroughs
again saw a steady rise there are a few
peaks and troughs
but then it shows signs of leveling off
in recent weeks and if we look at
infection rates for the week ending the
12th of october
manchester was running at 458
infections per 100 000 people in
comparison
nottingham was at 880 while derry and
straban
in northern ireland was at more than a
thousand but in many ways
it doesn't matter how many people are
getting infected with the virus
it's how many people are falling so
seriously ill that they are admitted
to hospital now if a big group of
students becomes invective with the
coronavirus
they're fit they're healthy they're in
the early 20s for example
they are unlikely to place an enormous
burden
on the health service but it's when
people who are elderly or have
underlying health conditions start
falling ill
well that's when we're likely to see
hospital admissions rising
and health service experiencing the kind
of pressures that we're seeing
in the spring dominic thank you
let's go back to vicky young who's in
westminster for us and vicki just how
far
is the government's local lockdown
strategy under strain
well i think it is and i think what's
interesting is if you look across the
united kingdom the different approaches
that are being taken we know in northern
ireland they've already introduced this
four weeks of extra restrictions pubs
and restaurants closing
the welsh government's set to introduce
its own short
sharp period of extra measures too
they're likely to make that decision
tomorrow but boris johnson is
sticking to this local approach he wants
to do everything
separately he thinks it's far more
targeted and a far better way
to operate of course it is a slow
process now today
both sides greater manchester and the
government
here in london have said that things
have been more constructive and i do get
a sense talking to both sides
that there is more of a willingness to
get together
now the treasury is sticking by what it
said previously that it will only pay
two-thirds of the wages of workers whose
businesses are
forced to shut so they won't budge there
but i don't get the impression they
would block it
if extra money was required it's not
just greater manchester
uh of course south yorkshire tomorrow
will have more talks about whether extra
restrictions
should be brought in there too but i
think politicians of
all parties will not be thanked if they
can't get together
and come up with a solution okay vicky
many thanks
vicky young there in westminster