The Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham has released a statement this morning regarding government discussions over potential Tier 3 reclassifications.
Mr Burnham, together with the leaders of all 10 councils in Greater Manchester and Deputy Mayor Baroness Bev Hughes have announced that they have a unified position on the government’s announcement introducing tiers of restrictions.
In the joint statement published on the GMCA website, Mr Burnham and the authorities said: “We are clear: the health of the people in the city-region is paramount and our primary focus continues to be on driving down the rates of COVID-19 infection.
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“Back in July, we took the difficult decision to agree with the government’s request for additional restrictions [and since then] our communities have been living with this patiently for months now, with no indoor mixing between households, and some of our businesses remaining shut for longer than in the rest of England.
“We are also clear that, alongside managing the virus, we need to protect people’s jobs and businesses [and] we will not let Greater Manchester be levelled down by this pandemic and the response to it.
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“We agree with the principle of having tiers of restrictions to provide simpler messages for our communities and for enforcement actions [as] this is better than a patchwork of restrictions that vary from council area to council area which are often in conflict with national messages.”
🗣️ "We will not let Greater Manchester be levelled down by this pandemic and the response to it."
The Leaders of all 10 councils, the Mayor and Deputy Mayor, have a unified position on Government’s announcement introducing tiers of restrictions.
The statement continues: “We wrote to the government over the weekend putting forward a strong set of proposals for Greater Manchester building on Tier 2 with additional measures which will protect public health and maintain economic activity,”
“We have not yet had a substantive response to our letter [and] we do not believe we should be put into Tier 3 for two reasons.
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“First, the evidence does not currently support it.
“The rate of COVID-19 infection in Greater Manchester is much lower, at 357.6 cases per 100,000, compared to Liverpool City Region which is in Tier 3 at 488.0 cases per 100,000. Plus, our hospital admission rate is much lower than in LCR as Deputy CMO, Jonathan Van Tam, highlighted in his press conference this week. Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 7-day rolling average Covid patients in beds is at around the 225 mark and in Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust it’s at the 100 mark.
“Second, the financial package accompanying Tier 3 is nowhere near sufficient to prevent severe hardship, widespread job losses and business failure.
“At the Prime Minister’s press conference on Monday, the Chief Medical Officer said that Tier 3 measures would only limit the spread if they included much more widespread business closures than the baseline of pubs. However, the Government has not put in a place an economic package to support this level of business closure.
“For that reason, we believe the Tier 3 proposal is fundamentally flawed [and] the Government is placing councils in an invidious position,”
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“We therefore reject the Government’s current drive to pile pressure on places to enter Tier 3.”
Mark Waugh
It was also revealed that a number of leaders in Greater Manchester support for calls of a “national circuit break” lockdown.
The statement continued: “If the government pursues its current strategy, we believe it will leave large parts of the North of England trapped in Tier 3 for much of the winter with all the damage that will do.
“If cases continue to rise as predicted, and the government continues to refuse to provide the substantial economic support that Tier 3 areas will need, then a number of Leaders in Greater Manchester believe a national circuit break, with the required financial support would be a preferable option.”
The statement closes out with Mr Burnham and the authorities saying they “would welcome the opportunity to have a serious discussion with the government about these important issues.” and once again re-emphasising that: “All of this should be underpinned by a full financial package to support delivery [which] includes a furlough scheme of at least 80% of wages offered to all businesses forced to close or severely affected and suffering a serious loss of trade due to restrictions.”
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It continues: “We await keenly the promised engagement and dialogue with government and stand ready to work with government to ensure we have the right measures in place in Greater Manchester with the powers and funding we need to make the restrictions work.”
You can read the statement in full via the GMCA website here.
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11 arrested and £70k cash seized during early-morning police drug raids across Greater Manchester
Emily Sergeant
11 people have been arrested, as well as a large amount of cash and drugs seized, during early-morning raids across Greater Manchester.
The raids took place during the early hours of the morning yesterday (Thursday 19 March 2026), where Greater Manchester Police (GMP) successfully executed eight warrants simultaneously across Tameside, Oldham, and Rochdale to tackle a ‘suspected criminal network’ involved in the distribution of class A drugs and firearms.
Officers from Tameside Programme Challenger team, the District Intelligence Unit (DIU), and GMP’s Tactical Aid Unit (TAU) were deployed to each of the addresses.
Following weeks of intelligence gathering and preparation, a total of 11 people – each aged between 24 and 77 – were arrested on suspicion of drug-related offences during the raids.
Eight men and three women were arrested on suspicion of a range of offences, including conspiracy to supply class A and B drugs, being part of an organised crime group, possession with intent to supply, money laundering, and possession of an offensive weapon.
They all remain in police custody for questioning at this time, GMP confirmed.
During searches of the addresses, various class A, B and C drugs – including crack cocaine, heroin, cannabis, and nitrous oxide – were seized, while further recoveries of £70,000 in cash, a zombie knife, a BB gun, and four vehicles were also made at the same time.
Speaking following the success of the raids yesterday, Chief Superintendent Shan Nasim, District Commander for Tameside, said: “[This] operation has been a powerful example of our continued, determined effort to dismantle organised crime in our district and Greater Manchester.
“We have 11 people in custody being questioned by our investigation teams in relation to an organised crime group (OCG) that have been causing widespread harm across our communities.
“This action caused significant disruption of an organised crime group (OCG) and has prevented drugs and weapons from reaching the streets, as well as the associated harms that come hand in hand with organised crime.
“Organised criminals exploit vulnerable people and blight our communities; we will take robust action to catch offenders, keep our communities safe, and protect vulnerable people across Greater Manchester.”
Featured Image – GMP
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The Premier League is keeping its crucial cap on away game ticket prices – for now
Danny Jones
The Premier League has announced it is extending its crucial price cap for away games, as the general cost of match tickets continues to creep up all over the country.
Most season card holders, be they here in Greater Manchester or elsewhere, are likely looking at their annual spending going up simply, so steps like these are key in keeping first division football as affordable as possible.
And that’s just the ongoing cost of living, let alone the clubs that are continuing the trend of charging more each year and, unfortunately, even pricing some supporters out entirely.
With that in mind, the news of England’s top-flight sides voting unanimously to keep the £30 cap intact for at least another two years comes as relief to those who spend most of the year putting their hard-earned cash towards following their team home and away.
BREAKING: The Premier League extend £30 cap on away tickets for another two seasons 🚨 pic.twitter.com/L336aZwmn3
Now confirmed to remain in place until the end of the 2027/28 campaign, travelling fans obviously still spend plenty of money on transport and so on every year, but at least they don’t have to worry about rising general admissions.
At least not for the time being…
Writing in a statement, the Premier League said: “Away fans help create the incredible atmosphere Premier League matches are renowned for. Since the cap’s implementation in 2016, it has contributed to attendance at away games increasing from 82% to 91%.”
They also acknowledged the significant and regular funds that supporters still spend on these trips, with plenty of people online also praising the Football Supporters’ Association (FSA), which helped spearhead the campaign over a decade ago.
With so many other obstacles still getting in the way of fans making it to games either at their usual stadium or on an away day – not least of all the constant and increasingly frustrating rescheduling of fixtures – it’s good to see this isn’t an area the Prem are trying to target.
As always, the multi-billion-pound business can always seek out other, newer money spinners, and we’re absolutley certain they will. For instance, there’s at least one happening over in Spain that we’d happily see carried over here.
Following the news, this now means that fans will ultimately have enjoyed 12 back-to-back seasons of the benefit, and long may it continue.
Nevertheless, the biggest barrier for people to watch the beautiful game at its highest level in the UK remains the cost of standard tickets.
The likes of Manchester United, Arsenal, Leeds and more have already let matchgoers know that their season ticket prices will be going up, and the likes of Man City have already seen backlash for increasing rates amid the expansion of the Etihad Campus.
The Manc -
14th October 2020 
