Manchester Pride has announced that the highly-anticipated Parade event has been cancelled for 2021.
The LGBTQ+ festival – which historically takes over the city every August Bank Holiday weekend – had its 2020 edition cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the charity confirmed earlier this year it would be going ahead next month.
The celebratory festival is due to be one of the more significant events taking place in the city centre following the lifting of lockdown restrictions earlier this week – but the announcement of the cancellation of this year’s Parade comes after organisers confirmed it held a number of COVID safety advisory group meetings yesterday.
Manchester Pride announced the Parade cancellation in a statement published to its official social media platforms this evening.
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A statement regarding this year's Manchester Pride Parade.
We understand that you may have many questions about this announcement – please get in touch with us via [email protected] and we will get back to you as soon as we can.
The statement read: “Whilst the Government announced an end to restrictions on 19 July, there were guidelines issued to support the safe delivery of large scale events [and] unfortunately, we are extremely sad to say that following this announcement and subsequent COVID safety advisory group meetings yesterday, we recognise that it is not possible for us to deliver the much-loved and anticipated Parade.”
The charity has apologised for the cancellation, but hopes attendees “understand the tough decision we had to take”, before reassuring that every other element of the festival will be “just as fabulous as expected”.
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Several other events have been announced to take place instead of the Parade, including five ‘Equality Marches’ on Saturday 28 August.
The marches will be limited to just 400 people per march, with 2,000 participating overall.
“We recognise that it is not possible for us to deliver the much-loved Parade.” / Credit: Manchester Pride
The Manchester Pride Parade is a march for equality and one of the Festival’s most highly-anticipated events.
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Thousands of people march proudly together through the streets of the city centre in front of tens of thousands of supporters and allies cheering them along the way.
2019’s Manchester Pride Parade was said to have been the “biggest and boldest yet”, with a whopping 200 organisations, over 14,000 people marching and tens of thousands spectators filling the streets with colour.
The theme for the Manchester Pride Parade 2021 was due to have been ‘Garden Of Freedom’.
Manchester set to host five UEFA EURO 2028 matches – including England’s opening game
Emily Sergeant
Manchester has been confirmed to be the host of five matches at the upcoming UEFA EURO tournament in 2028.
This also, crucially, would include England‘s opening match, should they qualify directly.
The joint announcement by Manchester City and Manchester City Council today comes as UEFA has now released key details about the UK & Ireland 2028 competition – which, as it stands, is less than 1,000 days away.
It has been confirmed that the Etihad Stadium – which is known as The City of Manchester Stadium when not relating to Manchester City football club – will host four Group Stage matches across four different groups, offering both local and international football fans the chance to see a range of different national teams in action.
On top of this, Manchester will also be the host a Round of 16 knockout match as the tournament progresses.
UEFA EURO 2028 will kick off at the National Stadium of Wales in Cardiff on Friday 9 June 2028, culminating in the Final at Wembley Stadium on Sunday 9 July 2028.
Across the UK and Ireland, nine stadiums will host matches during the upcoming tournament – with other northern stadiums including Everton Stadium in Liverpool, and St James’ Park over in Newcastle.
More than three million tickets – as sold by UEFA – are set to be available for the tournament, and more information on this will be issued in due course.
Following an independent assessment, UEFA EURO 2028 is expected to generate up to £3.6 billion in socio-economic benefits for the UK and Ireland between 2028 and 2031, with benefits including job creation, regional growth, and direct spending from international visitors.
The countdown has started in Manchester for #EURO2028!
Five matches are scheduled to be played here – including England's opener if they qualify – and more than 300,000 fans will be welcomed to the city in June 2028.
“We’re a city where football runs deep in our DNA, and we’re counting down the days to UEFA Euro 2028.”
Featured Image – The Manc Group
News
NHS set to make thousands of staff redundant after being given go-ahead
Emily Sergeant
Thousands of NHS staff are set to be made redundant after the £1 billion needed to fund them was approved by the Government.
The Government had already announced earlier this year its intention to cut the headcount across both NHS England and the Department of Health by around 18,000 administrative staff and managers, including on local health boards.
But before this was to happen, the HM Treasury had to approve the funds first.
National news outlets such as the BBC and Sky News are reporting that the Treasury has not granted additional funding, which is something that Health Secretary Wes Streeting is understood to have been pushing for.
But the NHS will, however, be permitted to overspend its budget this year to pay for redundancies – with the aim that it will recoup the costs further down the line.
The NHS is set to make thousands of staff redundant after being the given go-ahead by the Government / Credit: Pxhere
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has been in Manchester this week at the NHS Providers’ Conference, where he addressed attendees to announce the redundancies move saying: “Headcount across my department and NHS England will be halved, returning to the size we had in 2010 when the NHS delivered the shortest waiting times and highest patient satisfaction in history.”
He also told delegates at the conference that there was ‘no money to waste’, given the state of public finances.
According to the Department of Health, the redundancies and overall reforms to NHS England will cut ‘unnecessary bureaucracy’ and raise £1 billion a year to improve services for patients.
Today, we're announcing the next steps in modernising our NHS so we can invest more into patient care.
By cutting bureaucracy, our plans will mean an extra £1 billion a year for NHS services – enough to fund an extra 116,000 hip and knee operations. https://t.co/3LbJsuexW0pic.twitter.com/r3Aiix80yX
— Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) November 12, 2025
It said that every £1 billion saved in bureaucracy costs is enough to fund an extra 116,000 hip and knee operations.
NHS Providers’ Chief Executive Daniel Elkeles has called the move a ‘pragmatic step’ that means planned redundancies can now go ahead.
“It reflects the flexibility of a three-year settlement, allowing some funding to be brought forward in order to generate future savings to go into frontline care,” he added in a statement this week.
“However, we must recognise the position of staff affected by these changes, who face a very uncertain future.”
The Manc -
21st July 2021 
