Skip to main content
Work with the NEU
Government ensures a ‘winter of hardship’ for Greater Manchester
Andy Burnham warns Johnson's financial package will ‘increase poverty, homelessness and hardship’ in the region
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham arrives to speak the media outside Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, following last-ditch talks with the Prime Minister

THE government ensured “a winter of hardship” for Greater Manchester today as ministers refused to offer the “bare minimum” of funding for the region’s Tier 3 lockdown.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said that the government walked away from talks at 2pm today without agreeing on a financial package.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson later announced that the region would go into the harshest form of local lockdown from midnight on Thursday.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
A view of the skyline in Manchester City Centre
Politics / 13 July 2026
13 July 2026

Can Andy Burnham’s programme deliver a productive economy – or merely a softer version of capitalism, asks VINCE MILLS