BORIS Johnson has officially announced that Manchester will be placed under 'tier 3' restrictions after negotiations with Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, broke down.

In a televised press conference today, Tuesday, the Prime Minister said that a 'comprehensive' and 'proportionate' £22million package of support had been put together for the region to curb rising Covid-19 cases.

Earlier today, Mr Burnham said that the government walked away from negotiations. It is understood he wanted a support package of £65million for Greater Manchester, but the government would not offer more than £60 million.

Then, in extraordinary scenes, Mr Burnham was made aware of the government's vastly reduced £22 million settlement live on TV as he was giving a press conference timed just before the Prime Minister's.

Reacting to the news, he described the revised terms as 'disgraceful'.

Mr Johnson said: "Unfortunately agreement wasn't reached and I do regret this. We would have a better chance of defeating this virus if we had worked together."

During the press conference, Mr Johnson said the government was in discussions with northern regions 'bearing the brunt' of the second wave of the coronavirus and 'collective action' was needed to get the R-rate under 1.

Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, deputy chief medical officer, said there were 'very significant' areas of concern all over Greater Manchester.

Mr Johnson added: "Not to act [in Manchester] would have put the NHS and the lives of more Manchester residents at risk."

Manchester's tier 3 restrictions will come into effect at midnight on Thursday.

Travel to Manchester is strongly advised against but not banned and pubs not serving food will have to close until further notice.

Mr Johnson said that negotiations with other north west regions was ongoing and his intention was to avoid another national lockdown but added: "We cannot rule anything out."

Charlotte Nichols, MP for Warrington North, described the breakdown in talks as 'a sign of government failure' and a possible 'sign of things to come' for Warrington.

She said: "The Conservatives have been treating the north west and its leaders with contempt, and the fact they were not willing to provide a sufficient financial support package to Greater Manchester - at least in line with what has been required elsewhere including the Liverpool City Region - before imposing tier 3 is both a disgrace and unfortunately a sign of things to come for us if the transmission rate in Warrington does not show rapid signs of improvement.

"I understand what has happened today will cause real anxiety locally but I will do all I can as your MP to fight for jobs and livelihoods, and to ensure we can recover from this period of turmoil."