Politics

UK coronavirus live: Greater Manchester tier 3 lockdown talks break down without a deal






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Jenrick blames Burnham for breakdown of talks





Greater Manchester leaders reject £60m business support offer as inadequate

Greater Manchester leaders are understood to have rejected an offer of £60m in business support from the government just three hours before Boris Johnson is due to hold a Downing Street press conference.

Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, is understood to have told the communities secretary, Robert Jenrick, that the £60m offer is not sufficient, following a morning of frantic behind-the-scenes negotiations.

The £60m lump sum is £15m short of a proposal set out by Burnham earlier today, just before the midday deadline set by Jenrick on Monday night. The decision to reject the government offer was made in a Zoom call with Greater Manchester leaders.

The £60m would be in addition to £22m for test and trace and enhanced enforcement, which is proportionate to the per capita deals struck by Merseyside and Lancashire authorities last week.

It is understood Greater Manchester leaders had reduced their initial £75m figure to £65m and thought this was a reasonable shift. However, ministers then came back to offer £60m, which was rejected.

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Greater Manchester tier 3 talks break down without agreement





Wales might need further firebreak lockdown in new year, minister admits

Another circuit breaker lockdown may have to be introduced in the new year, the Welsh government has said.

Ken Skates, the economy minister, said the hope was that a temporary lockdown starting on Friday would bring the R number down to 0.8. He said:


That would, in itself, buy us enough time, give us the headroom, to get through to Christmas and the new year.

But we could not rule out the possibility of another firebreak if transmission rates increase dramatically over the Christmas period.

Skates also said a new national set of restrictions will be introduced in Wales once this two-week circuit breaker is over. At the moment parts of Wales with high Covid levels are in local lockdown while others have more freedom. Skates said a new national scheme would be brought in at the end of the temporary lockdown.

















Welsh support package for business most generous in UK, Welsh government claims

The Welsh government has insisted that its short, sharp “circuit breaker” will give businesses the best chance of a buoyant Christmas and suggested England could be heading for a longer lockdown if its tier system does not work.

The Welsh economy minister, Ken Skates, also said it had managed to bring the support of the country’s businesses, local authorities and trade unions along with it, rather than becoming embroiled in the sort of stand-off the UK government faces with Greater Manchester.

Skates said £300m would be made available to help businesses through the firebreak – the most generous package in the UK, he claimed.

The minister said this amounted to £100 per person in Wales and contrasted this with the £8 per head for local authorities heading into tier three in England. Skates said:


Elsewhere, restrictions are being imposed for four weeks, for six weeks and potentially longer. If the tier system in England doesn’t operate correctly they may have to revisit that entire scheme – who knows how long businesses may be affected? Here in Wales we are taking the responsible course of action, which is a short, sharp firebreak.

We haven’t had a 10-day standoff with any part of Wales. We have brought businesses, local authorities, trade unions with us.

The Senedd building in Cardiff

The Senedd building in Cardiff. Photograph: Geoff Caddick/AFP via Getty Images

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NHS England has today announced £15m for the “rapid assessment and treatment” of staff with mental health problems this winter, in recognition of the toll exacted on them by battling the coronavirus pandemic.

Revealing the investment, while giving evidence to the Commons health committee, Claire Murdoch, NHS England’s national director for mental health, said priority would be given to Covid hotspots such as Merseyside and Lancashire. She said:


We’ll be looking at those high pressured hotspot areas first to make sure that, in a sense, although this rollout will be rapid, we’ll start where we think it’s needed most.

In addition, we will be setting up a highly specialist national service for a small number of staff, who perhaps have very complex trauma, perhaps some of my critical care colleagues.

Responding to the announcement, Dame Donna Kinnair, the Royal College of Nursing chief executive and general secretary, said:


We welcome this further support that recognises what healthcare staff have had to put up with, and hope this is the only the start of a sustained focus on the wellbeing of nursing staff. Many of the factors that worsen the wellbeing of the workforce existed before Covid-19 such as unhealthy working patterns and a severe shortage of staff.

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Government deal with Greater Manchester ‘more likely than not’, says senior Tory





Scottish government to provide more funding for meals for children over school holidays

Scottish councils are being given another £10m to provide free meals over the holidays to children eligible for free school meals, after pressure from Scottish Labour and calls from campaigners including the footballer Marcus Rashford.

Shirley-Anne Somerville, the Scottish social security secretary, said the money would allow the country’s 32 councils to continue offering free meal vouchers, cash sums or food parcels over the Christmas, February and Easter holidays.

It would also reimburse those councils which provided free meals during the October holidays, and would help around 156,000 children, she said.

The previous scheme, introduced earlier this year, was criticised by anti-poverty campaigners because of significant differences in the way councils provide the meals. Some gave out vouchers for specific stores, others provided cash cards or meal packs, while the sums provided varied across the country.

Councils would also be given another £18m to help councils tackle financial crises for the worst off, to meet housing, fuel and food costs, through the Scottish welfare fund set by the Scottish government.

Last week Richard Leonard, the Scottish Labour leader, had urged the Scottish government to reinstate the free meals funding, which had lapsed after the summer holidays, echoing similar calls from Rashford.

“There is no time for reviews or prevarication. Hard pressed and poverty-stricken families need this support over free school holiday meals now,” he told the Daily Record.

Shirley-Anne Somerville.

Shirley-Anne Somerville. Photograph: Ken Jack/Getty Images




Welsh government criticises Sunak for refusing to let Cardiff fund early start of job scheme in Wales





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Boris Johnson to hold press conference this afternoon, following talks with Burnham about Greater Manchester

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Covid hospital numbers in Scotland up by almost 10% in 24 hours, Sturgeon confirms

Another 15 people have died in Scottish hospitals after contracting Covid-19, with the numbers in hospital with positive tests increasing by 70 to 824 during the last 24 hours, Nicola Sturgeon has announced.

Yesterday the figure for coronavirus patients in hospital was 754, so the numbers have risen almost 10% in 24 hours, the figures show.

The first minister also said 1,456 new cases had been reported overnight, including results from some tests delayed over the weekend, with the total number of positive tests reaching 11.4%. The number of people in intensive care also increased by eight, up to 69.

These figures are amongst the highest reported since late May and Sturgeon urged people to immediately seek Covid tests as soon as they showed suspicious symptoms, and not to delay for a day or two to see whether those symptoms continued.





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