London and Liverpool will be placed in Tier 2 of England’s new system of COVID-19 restrictions, but Birmingham and Manchester will be in Tier 3
The health secretary said of these new Tier 2 and Tier 3 restrictions that “these are not easy decisions, but they have been made according to the best clinical advice”.
Mr Hancock told MPs: “Thanks to the shared sacrifice of everyone in recent weeks, in following the national restrictions, we have been able to start to bring the virus back under control and slow its growth, easing some of the pressure on the NHS.”
“We will do this by returning to a regional tiered approach, saving the toughest measures for the parts of the country where prevalence remains too high.”
This comes after Doctors, scientists and the hospitality industry all say that Boris Johnson’s plans for a Christmas bubble is a mistake; for five days between the dates of the 23rd and the 27th of December, people throughout the UK will be able to mix with other families in a Christmas bubble.
Labour’s shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth said the nation is “still in the tunnel” despite the light offered by vaccines, telling the Commons:
“We have a significant way to go to drive infection rates down and keep our constituents safe.”
“We understand why tough restrictions are still needed, but let’s be clear: today millions of people trying to survive in the second lockdown will soon be forced to endure further local lockdown restrictions.”
‘Heartbroken’ hotel owner on Tier 3
Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said the area being placed into Tier 3 will cause “real hardship”.
“The new Tier 3 will hit the hospitality sector extremely hard. While there are grants for businesses forced to close, there is no extra support for business which supply them like security, catering and cleaning,” he said.
London mayor Sadiq Khan welcomed news that the capital will be moved back into Tier 2, having previously been in Tier 3.
But referring to the curfew for hospitality, he said he was “extremely disappointed that the government is sticking with specific measures that seem to cause more harm than good”.
Joe Anderson, mayor of Liverpool, said it was good news that the area was once again in Tier 2, but warned: “We must remain vigilant and ensure this tentative step back to semi-normality is sustained.”
This comes after the tough COVID-19 Tier 3 restrictions that had been imposed before the second national lockdown in England were not strong enough, according to the health secretary when speaking with MPs.
The areas in Tier 3 are:
• Greater Manchester
• Birmingham and Black Country
• Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
• Leeds
• Hull
• City of Wolverhampton
• Kent and Medway
• South Yorkshire
• Hartlepool
• Middlesbrough
• Stockton-on-Tees
• Redcar and Cleveland
• Darlington
• Sunderland
• South Tyneside
• Gateshead
• North Tyneside
• County Durham
• Northumberland
• Lancashire
• Blackpool
• Blackburn with Darwen
• The Humber
• West Yorkshire
• Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent
• Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull
• Derby and Derbyshire
• Nottingham and Nottinghamshire
• Leicester and Leicestershire
• Lincolnshire
• Slough
• Bristol
• South Gloucestershire
• North Somerset
The areas in Tier 2 are:
• Liverpool City Region
• London
• Warrington and Cheshire
• Cumbria
• York
• North Yorkshire
• Northamptonshire
• Rutland
• Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes
• Herefordshire
• Worcestershire
• Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin
• Essex, Thurrock and Southend on Sea
• Norfolk
• Suffolk
• Hertfordshire
• Cambridgeshire, including Peterborough
• Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton
• Surrey
• Buckinghamshire
• Oxfordshire
• Reading
• Wokingham
• Bracknell Forest
• Windsor and Maidenhead
• West Berkshire
• Dorset
• Bournemouth
• Christchurch
• Poole
• South Somerset, Somerset West and Taunton, Mendip and Sedgemoor
• Bath and North East Somerset
• Gloucestershire
• Wiltshire and Swindon
• Devon
• East Sussex
• West Sussex
• Brighton and Hove
Just three areas are in Tier 1:
• Isle of Wight
• Cornwall
• Isles of Scilly
