It has been confirmed today that Greater Manchester will be placed into Tier 4 restrictions following the second official review of the UK government’s tier system.
The new classification was announced by Health Secretary Matt Hancock during a direct address to MPs in the House of Commons a few moments ago.
These changes will take effect at 0.01am tomorrow.
Announcing the new classifications, Mr Hancock said: “Unfortunately, this new variant is now spreading across most of England and cases are doubling fast [and] it is therefore necessary to apply Tier 4 measures to a wider area, including the remaining parts of the South East, as well as large parts of the Midlands, the North West, the North East and the South West.”
Lancashire, Cheshire, Warrington, Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen will also move from Tier 3 restrictions into Tier 4.
ADVERTISEMENT
Liverpool City Region will move from Tier 2 restrictions into Tier 3, while Cumbria will from Tier 2 into Tier 4.
BREAKING: Health Secretary Matt Hancock says that three quarters of the population of England are now going to be in Tier 4 due to the spread of the second COVID variant.
It comes after coronavirus (COVID-19) infection rates have continued to rise across the region – with nine out of the ten boroughs seeing increases – and the latest data now showing the region-wide infection rate looking set to top 200 cases per 100,000 people again for the first time since last month.
ADVERTISEMENT
Greater Manchester had previously remained under Tier 3 restrictions since the country came out of the national second lockdown at the start of December, with no changes in almost four weeks.
Tier 4
The new tier 4 restrictions will see Greater Manchester residents told to “stay at home” and not leave or be outside of their home except for specific purposes.
No household mixing is allowed – aside from support bubbles and two people meeting in public outdoor spaces – all hospitality and non-essential retail must close, except for takeaway, drive-through or delivery services, and all indoor leisure and entertainment venues must too close.
Travel is only permitted for work, education or other legally permitted reasons, and residents must not leave a Tier 4 area or stay overnight away from home.
Residents in Tiers 1 – 3 should also not enter Tier 4 areas.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson is now due to make a follow-up announcement regarding the return to school ahead of the new term for millions of children across the country at 3:30pm.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has announced millions more people are facing tighter Covid-19 restrictions as the Government extends Tier 4 rules to cover more areas in England
The review follows widespread reports by a number of major news outlets that have been emerging over the past week or so to suggest that England could immediately head into a full lockdown, or even see additional ‘Tier 5’ restrictions imposed following the confirmation by Health Secretary Matt Hancock earlier this month that a “new variant” of coronavirus has been detected in the UK, which first forced London and large parts of the South East into Tier 4 “stay at home” measures over the festive period.
ADVERTISEMENT
It also comes after millions more people were then moved into tougher restrictions on Boxing Day, with some six million people entering Tier 4, and a further four million people placed into Tier 3.
This thus brought the total of people in Tier 4 to 24 million, which was 43% of the population.
The approval of the new vaccine is set to accelerate UK’s immunisation campaign – with 100 million doses of the Oxford jab already ordered – and is has prompted Matt Hancock to express confidence the country could now “get out of the pandemic by spring”.
Two shots will be required for maximum effect, and the rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is scheduled for 4th January.
ADVERTISEMENT
This is a BREAKING NEWS story – More to follow.
___
For the latest information, guidance and support during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the UK, please do refer to official sources at gov.uk/coronavirus.
#HandsFaceSpace
News
Manchester City win watershed case against Premier League over sponsorship rules
Danny Jones
Manchester City have landed an early blow in what is set to be a long and arduous series of legal proceedings over the coming months as they have won a case against the Premier League over their rules around sponsorship and related party transactions.
The current English champions, who have won a record four Premier League titles in a row, launched legal action against the division back in June after claiming that their restrictions around Associated Party Transactions (APT) rules and sponsorships were unfair and unlawful.
Now, as it turns out, an independent panel of three retired judges ultimately concluded that the rules were unlawful and, at least in part, contrary to the Competition Act 1998.
The details of the case are obviously numerous and complex but, in short, it has been found that Man City were unfairly blocked from moving forward with two huge sponsorship deals earlier this year.
BREAKING: Man City has won their legal challenge against the Premier League's Associated Party Transaction rules, which surrounds commercial deals between clubs and their related companies 🚨 pic.twitter.com/ZevrXvOOhd
Although the outcome has been somewhat debated by the league itself, it was decided that the imposed regulations were unfair and “discriminatory in how they operate, because they deliberately excluded shareholder loans.”
Issuing a statement following the decision, the Premier League said they “welcome the Tribunal’s findings, which endorsed the overall objectives, framework and decision-making of the APT system”, adding that it also “upheld the need for the APT system as a whole and rejected the majority of City’s challenges” while reiterating that the rules are necessary for their “financial controls to be effective”.
They went on to add that “the decision represents an important and detailed assessment of the APT Rules, which ensure clubs are not able to benefit from commercial deals or reductions in costs that are not at Fair Market Value (FMV) by virtue of relationships with Associated Parties.”
Meanwhile, the City Football Group responded to the news in a series of bullet points, insisting that the “Premier League was found to have abused its dominant position, […] had reached the decisions in a procedurally unfair manner” and that they will now have to “restate the fair market value of two transactions entered into by the Club.”
Safe to say people have noted quite a distinct difference in tone when it comes to statements from the two parties regarding associated parties and their transactions with clubs but, nevertheless, it’s a victory for the Manc club could have a huge knock-on effect regarding how much teams can spend in the future.
Quite a contrast in wording between the statements from Man City (left) and the Premier League (right) on findings related to Associated Party Transaction rules. pic.twitter.com/H3QkHlwMGM
The Premier League have also reassured that two particular aspects of the existing rules that didn’t fully comply with the Competition Act will be rectified promptly and will be “conducting a process that can allow the league and clubs to enact those specific changes quickly and effectively”.
Not only does this mean that CFG is likely to restart conversations with the two blocked parties – one being the Etihad Group and another with a bank based in Abu Dhabi – but that other clubs could now potentially look into further lucrative sponsorship deals, although ‘fair market value’ will still be assessed.
You can read page 164 of the document which summarises the full Tribunal HERE.
Meanwhile, the still outstanding case against Man City over their 115 charges regarding FFP breaches has now begun, though a decision is still a ways off.
Date set for Manchester’s move to London-style ‘touch in, touch out’ public transport system
Emily Sergeant
The date for Manchester’s switch to a London-style ‘touch in, touch out’ public transport system has officially been set.
With just three months to go until all buses in Greater Manchester are back under local control, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has now set the date for the introduction of capped contactless payments on the Bee Network in a bid to “support multi-modal travel”, and it’s already being described as a “huge step forward”.
TfGM believes contactless pay-as-you-go systems on buses and trams will make travel easier overall, as it’ll guarantee passengers pay the right fare for their journey.
But how exactly will it work?
Coming soon, contactless Pay As You Go on #BeeNetwork buses. Travel seamlessly between bus and tram, with fares automatically worked out for you.
🟡 Pay no more than the daily or weekly cap for your journeys (adult fares) 🟡 Unlimited daily travel by bus for £5 a day pic.twitter.com/dOa8o96vqA
Well, similar to how customers currently travel on the Metrolink, passengers will be able to use their bank card or smart payment device to touch in on all Bee Network bus services, and rest assured knowing that they will only be charged the lowest fare up to the daily cap of £5, or the new weekly cap of £20.
Under the new system, people travelling by Bee Network bus will simply ‘touch on’ as they board the service.
Not only that, but passengers will also be able to travel across both Metrolink and Bee Network bus services at the same time, and only be charged a single multi-modal fare, instead of having to plan or buy tickets in advance – which is similar to travelling in London.
Passengers who use both Bee Network bus and Metrolink can use pay as you go for unlimited all-day travel across Greater Manchester, which is expected to cost a maximum of £9.50, or £7.80 if you start your journey after 9:30am or at weekends.
Journeys will be cheaper if travelling across fewer Metrolink zones.
Manchester is set to move to London-style ‘touch in, touch out’ public transport payment system / Credit: TfGM
For the time being, TfGM has confirmed that pay as you go travel will operate with adult fares only, but this may be rolled-out to others in the future.
“Pay as you go will be launching across Bee Network buses to build on the system that has been in place on the Metrolink since 2019,” explained Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham.
“This is a massive step forward in terms of delivering a London-style transport network for the people of Greater Manchester, putting our region on par with not only the capital, but also major cities across the world that offer seamless integrated travel by public transport.”
Mr Burnham also said it’ll be “affordable and easier to pay for”, and will ultimately “take the worry out of choosing the right ticket”.
The Manc -
30th December 2020 
