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.

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

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."

The news comes as Cheshire West and Chester Council leader Louise Gittins, Chester MP Chris Matheson and Chester BID - on behalf of the city's business community - are calling on the Government to provide financial support to save hundreds of Chester businesses from collapse, due to unique coronavirus restrictions preventing people in most neighbouring counties visiting.

The business community in Chester have reported that the latest restrictions are, consequently, having a detrimental effect on the businesses there, which is in a unique geographical location, adversely affected at this time by its neighbouring areas having stricter COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.

New restrictions place Cheshire West and Chester in Tier 2. This means that little support is available to hospitality businesses, an important sector for the city of Chester.

With the centre of Chester just two miles from the Welsh border, and a 20-minute journey from the Liverpool City Region, the cumulative impact of Tier 2 measures is devastating Chester’s local hospitality industry.

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."