South Yorkshire added to highest COVID-19 tier amid lockdown rows

Addressing his weekly Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) session in the House of Commons, Johnson revived the row with Greater Manchester authorities from earlier this week as he accused the region’s Opposition Labour Mayor, Andy Burnham, of turning down a generous 60 million pounds financial aid package for being placed in Tier 3, or the very high alert category which involves a complete shutdown of most businesses.

South Yorkshire in northern England has become the latest region to be added to the highest level of coronavirus lockdown restrictions as it was included in Tier 3 on Wednesday, amid ongoing clashes between the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson led government and local authorities over the issue. Addressing his weekly Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) session in the House of Commons, Johnson revived the row with Greater Manchester authorities from earlier this week as he accused the region’s Opposition Labour Mayor, Andy Burnham, of turning down a generous 60 million pounds financial aid package for being placed in Tier 3, or the very high alert category which involves a complete shutdown of most businesses. He, however, went on to confirm that the amount will be distributed to the region nonetheless.

“Yesterday [Tuesday] the Mayor of Greater Manchester was offered a further 60 million pounds which he turned down… I can tell the House today that that cash will be distributed to the boroughs of Greater Manchester,” said Johnson. But Opposition Leader Keir Starmer retaliated to accuse the government of creating a “corrosive” environment of clashes with local authorities.

“I really think the Prime Minister has crossed a Rubicon here, not just with the miserly way that he's treated Greater Manchester, but the grubby take it or leave it way these local deals are being done,” said Starmer. "It's corrosive to public trust to pit region against region, mayor against mayor, council against council, asking them to trade away their businesses and jobs," he said.

The accusation came even as a new front opened up in the war of words after Johnson accused London Mayor Sadiq Khan of bankrupting Transport for London (TfL), the UK capital’s transport authority. “It was the Labour Mayor of London who bankrupted TfL’s finances,” said Johnson, as he implied that the financial troubles faced by the organisation pre-date the pandemic.

Khan retaliated instantly on Twitter by branding Johnson a liar and pointed the finger of blame at his double term as Mayor of London, between 2008 and 2016, before Khan took charge. “The PM has lied to the House of Commons. Before Covid I was fixing his mess at TfL – reducing the deficit by 71 per cent since 2016. Covid-19 is the sole cause of TfL’s challenges,” said Khan.

The UK has seen a series of tug of wars over the past few weeks as different parts of the country set their levels of lockdown restrictions to control a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. While Northern Ireland and Wales are already under complete lockdowns, branded “circuit-breaker” and “firebreak” respectively, Scotland has strict curbs in place with plans to move to a five-tier system of virus alert levels from November 2 – expected to be tougher than England’s current three-tier system. Meanwhile, South Yorkshire will join Liverpool and Greater Manchester in England's Tier 3 from midnight on Friday, which means a complete ban on different households mixing indoors. The restrictions are set to be reviewed after 28 days.

“I’m very grateful to the local leadership in South Yorkshire who have worked together closely, cross party, on the need for additional measures to protect lives and livelihoods. A failure to act now would only lead to tougher and longer lasting restrictions later,” said UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock. Official government figures show that the coronavirus case rate in England stands at 169 people per 100,000 from October 9 to 15, up from 100 people per 100,000 from the previous week, which indicates that the rate of COVID-19 infections is rising rapidly across the UK.

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