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the full closure of pubs and restau ra nts the full closure of pubs and restaurants would be a disaster. the government is offering new support for uk businesses which are being ordered to close, the full closure of pubs and restaurants — if it happens — would be a disaster for the hospitality industry which is still reeling from having to shut down in march.the government is offering new support for uk businesses which are ordered to close — but will it be enough? our business correspondent katie prescott reports. a possible emergency for a restau ra nt a possible emergency for a restaurant is facing the prospects of empty tables again. this newcastle bistro has a capacity down by 40%. newcastle bistro has a capacity down by a0%. the owner says new government support is welcome, but may not be enough. we have got bills coming in all the time, stop that we will lose. if we had to close, we probably have 300 quids worth of stock which we would be putting in the bin or trying to give away. it all adds up and each time we get

told to shut and then we open it adds up. the scheme gives businesses close by looked and up to £3000 a month and pays two thirds of wages, up month and pays two thirds of wages, up to month and pays two thirds of wages, uptoa month and pays two thirds of wages, up to a maximum of £2100 a month. the resolution foundation estimates 444,000 employees the resolution foundation estimates 444, 000 employees could the resolution foundation estimates 444,000 employees could be using the new scheme by november, at a cost of £2.4 billion. many businesses will have to make decisions. sorry we are going to take you to a press conference by northern city leaders including steve rotherham and andy burnham. just so that colleagues know, both steve and dan do have to leave the press conference likely early today, so when i come round to media questions, i am going to start with colleagues from the liverpool and sheffield city region is and then we will move onto other collea g u es then we will move onto other colleagues on the call. because we have got a lot of media on today, i am going to ask you to limit your

question to a single question and if we have time at the end of the press conference, i will come round for follow—ups. i will try to get you all again if possible. i think that is probably the housekeeping apart from any colleagues who are not on mute, if you please could, and i will ask andy to kick off the press conference. thank you very much indeed, kevin, and thank you to all our colleagues from the media. forjoining us this afternoon. i want to preface everything i'm going to say by firstly making clear that for all of us firstly making clear that for all of us the health of our residents comes first and all of us will do what we need to do, the evidence—based measures we need to take, to ensure the safety of our residents and i just want to make clear that

certainly i understand why the government wants to simplify, clarify and possibly strengthen the restrictions, so that we do prevent the spread of the virus as far as we can. just on that, you will know that there were discussions yesterday between mayers, local leaders across the north, tom aggar could i ask colleagues from the media to mute, it is disrespectful to everyone else if you do not pinch—macro thank you. those discussions were taking place yesterday, which we know about and continuing over the weekend. . if you could just mute. continuing over the weekend. . if you couldjust mute. i continuing over the weekend. . if you could just mute. i have just muted them, andy? so those

discussions are continuing over the weekend and i have to say, without going into the detail, the government has at least opened up a conversation with local leaders about those restrictions and certainly from my point of view, i do not intend to provide a running commentary on those discussions. i think it is right to respect the confidentiality of those discussions. however, and there is a very big however, what we were told yesterday is that the financial package that would accompany any system of new restrictions, as announced by the chancellor yesterday afternoon, was final and non—negotiable and i have to say, we cannot accept that. this package

only appeared late in the day. at the start of the way, there was no going to be any financial package at all. we were told that the government would be putting out the structure of the new tier system and there were no proposals to have an accompanied financial package. following pressure from mayers and other leaders, that changed and we obviously got late on a package yesterday, but the analysis that we have done of that package and we took time to digests what the chancellor had said, the conclusion we have reached is that this package is insufficient to protect our communities as we go into the rest of the autumn and winter. let me ta ke of the autumn and winter. let me take you through some of the specifics and the first days, the proposal to pay two thirds of the

wages of businesses forced to close ina wages of businesses forced to close in a localised furlough scheme. for people on middle or higher earnings, thatis people on middle or higher earnings, that is difficult, but it is something that probably most people on this call would be able to manage if asked to do so. but if you were ina bar, if asked to do so. but if you were in a bar, or in a kitchen, linked to a pub, on possibly living wage or more likely minimum wage, how is it possible to live on two thirds of your wages when actually the government has forced your place of work to close? those people cannot choose to pay two thirds of their rent or two thirds of their bills. it would of course put them into severe hardship and let us remember of course, many have had a really difficult year up to this point. the

further question is, national furlough was set at 80% of people's wages, why should a localfurlough be set at 67%, given that the hospitality sector is going to be most affected by the restrictions, to a cce pt most affected by the restrictions, to accept this would be to accept that hospitality workers are somehow second class citizens and we will not accept that. there is also a problem with the timetable. we have been told that the local furlough scheme would come in from the 1st of november and actually there would be a lag before the first payments were made which would probably take it into december before any payments we re into december before any payments were made. there is talk that in some places restrictions could come in as early as next week that would leave people with no money for a period of six weeks and could push them into debt and severe hardship.

we also think the scheme is too limited to, because it only deals with businesses forced to close. of course, there are many suppliers to those businesses, who will see their own trade collapsed if these premises are forced to close and of course i'm talking about catering or other businesses there. and more broadly, there is an effect here of local restrictions, be they in tier two or tier three, if they are to have the effect the government wants them to have, they will choke off footfall in towns and city centres and affect businesses there and we would argue that there needs to be a broader recognition of that and a business support scheme to match. we are being told that the government

will double the current payment to businesses that are locked down from £1500 to £3000 a month. but i am pretty certain, but that will not be enough to save many businesses in greater manchester, who are on a knife edge now after the most difficult year they have probably ever faced and we do not believe that payment would be sufficient to prevent multiple business failure, not just prevent multiple business failure, notjust in prevent multiple business failure, not just in greater manchester, prevent multiple business failure, notjust in greater manchester, but across the north west and the whole of the north. there is no recognition in the chancellor's a package for people who are self—employed and let's remember, if you shot the pubs in any part of the north of england, you are creating an immediate knock—on effect on the taxi trade in all of those places and also industries like security. many of the people working in both of those professions being

self—employed and, again, to have no recognition of their position and to provide no local self—employed support scheme, in my view, is wrong. if there is to be a tier three lockdown, which gets close to the national lockdown of what we saw earlier this year, then again it has to follow surely that the level of support provided to individuals on furlough, businesses in terms of grants, but also people who are self—employed, has to be consistent. alongside all of the things that i have called for, i think there is a case for a more discretionary grant fund to pick up the general hardship that businesses under restrictions will face. so, kevin, iwill bring my remarks to a conclusion at this point and it is to say that for all of the reasons that i have given, to

accept the chancellor's package as outlined yesterday would be to surrender our residents to hardship in the run—up to christmas and our businesses to potential failure or collapse. and we are not prepared to do that. it would also run the risk of severe redundancies across the north of england, particularly when you combine the effect of any new local restrictions in this tier system with the end of the more generalfurlough system with the end of the more general furlough scheme, which system with the end of the more generalfurlough scheme, which is still looming at the end of this month and we estimate that there are around 100,000 people in greater manchester still on furlough scheme. if you combine the effect of all of those things, we think it would be to do long—term damage to the economy of greater manchester and

the north of england. actually, it would weaken recovery, because the organisations we would depend upon to help us recover, like manchester airport, who unfortunately have had to begin consultations on potential redundancy this way, those organisations will not be in a position to recover when we come out of this and that amounts to the precise opposite of what this government was elected to do. it will level down the north of england and widen the north—south divide. so, how do we make progress on what iam so, how do we make progress on what i am saying? we are today writing to mps, allmps who i am saying? we are today writing to mps, all mps who represent constituencies in the north of england and kevin will share a copy of that letter with you during this

press briefing, signed by the mayors on this call, but also the leader of manchester city council as well. what we are asking our mp colleagues to do is to support what we are saying and support their constituents, who we feel would be plunged into hardship by these measures and indeed some of the businesses in their constituencies forced to close, which may not reopen. we know there are debates living in parliament next week and we are calling on northern mps to ask for a separate vote in the house of commons on this financial package and debate on this financial package, so that the issues can be thoroughly gone through in parliament and all of the potential effects of local restrictions,

without unacceptable financial package, can be fully understood. we would be asking them to bring about a vote, which would allow mps either to support or what we would hope more likely, reject this package and require the government to return with a package which responds fully to all of the points that i have just made. so, i will leave it there, kevin, and hand back to you. thank you, and a. if i can move across to steve rotherham, mayor of liverpool region, please. thank you. obviously i associate myself very much with what andy has just outlined. in all honesty, i think most of the journalists who are watching this will understand our incredulity and dismay at having to have a press conference, because in out have a press conference, because in our area, just one week ago, 1.6 million people woke up in our city

region to a set of additional restrictions that had been imposed by the national government and we we re by the national government and we were told that those restrictions, asa were told that those restrictions, as a package, would have the desired effect of reducing the exponential increase in transmission rates in out increase in transmission rates in our area increase in transmission rates in ourarea and increase in transmission rates in our area and myself and local leaders and mp5 met with health officials and ministers and we were told, look, this is a package that emerges with the result is that we wanted to have in your area and yet just a few days later, we read in the newspapers, that the liverpool city region and the north, potentially, was going to have to go into lockdown and so our number one priority has always been that we look after the health and well—being of the people that we represent and we will support measures, no matter how politically difficult, sometimes those things, that will protect them

and we would ask the government for the scientific evidence that supported that package of measures, just seven days ago, but we are still waiting, and all of this is not made any clearer by then refusing that scientific rationale, because we need to take people in our area, because we need to take people in ourarea, and they because we need to take people in our area, and they are very confused at the moment, just a few days ago we we re at the moment, just a few days ago we were told these restrictions are the right thing and then a few days later, being told, through leaks from national newspapers, it has to be said, that they are not and we need to go into a higher tier. so, yesterday, we met with the government and they told us that they intend on monday to lay those orders before parliament and that it will place liverpool city region in tier three, which would be effective

from wednesday, so you can imagine that we are asking for the details of that, what does that look like? steve, you appear to have gone on mute. sorry, perhaps it is a warning that my time is up. we will meet with government later on today and when we did meet with government they told us they were about to announce a package on monday of laying those orders before parliament and that would place liverpool city into tier three which would be effective from wednesday. those detailed negotiations still going on and, as i say, directly after i have finished here, we will be joining a call with number 10 to thrash out some of those issues,

because we have not got the confidence yet that that package is the right package for us or that the support that andy has just outlined in his detailed submission... what we can do to ensure that we get the right package of support to protect our nhs, ourlocal right package of support to protect our nhs, our local businesses, and residents and of course to protect as manyjobs residents and of course to protect as many jobs and residents and of course to protect as manyjobs and businesses as we can, we understand that a curtailment of these freedoms is difficult for people and will impact on businesses, but we are actually talking about lives and livelihoods in this incident, so we have consistently said to government that imposing new restrictions, without also providing adequate funding support, is simply not acceptable and unless we get those assurances of that assistance today, we are in

the same vote as other mayors across the same vote as other mayors across the city regions in the north, and we will not accept a package that does not include the underpinning, the recognition of the detrimental impact that measures such as this would have in our area and with that, kevin, iwill would have in our area and with that, kevin, i will hand would have in our area and with that, kevin, iwill hand back would have in our area and with that, kevin, i will hand back to you in the studio. thank you very much, stay. i am going to invite jamie next to say a few words. thank you. the first duty of any government is to keep its people safe, all of the regional leaders in the north—east, everyone on this call supports that we know it is ourjob and we are supportive of evidence—based restrictions, but they do have to be evidence—based, they cannot be done on the basis that something must be seen on the basis that something must be seen to be done. a few weeks ago, we saw our set of restrictions increase and shortly after that and we have seen and shortly after that and we have seen the effect of all of them and certainly we know that the

transmission rates are falling in some areas. we all accept that sometimes we ask citizens to make sacrifices for the public good, when you are laying new infrastructure, you are laying new infrastructure, you might be asked to give up your property, but you get 100% compensation for that. so when the state says, you may not go to work, you may not trade, then people should be getting 100% compensation. being paid two thirds of your wages, especially if you are on minimum wage, is not acceptable. the amount of things in my inbox, where people are saying, look i am on my last legs, i have already had my business support loans and i am burning through them and i cannot open and i cannot trade and i am running up debts, people have had this for six or seven months now and their financial reserves are gone. we absolutely must support our economies. and it has to go beyond, because we have been trying to get clarity when we met with government and with officials yesterday, about

which businesses might have to close in tier three and there has been various confusion about that. they are getting lloyds to look at it, if you have to do that, it is obviously very complicated and not a great message for the public. and if you are told to close and you are a bar ora pub, apparently are told to close and you are a bar or a pub, apparently will get compensation, but what about a business that supplies them? what about if you are a freelancer who works doing events, but in a big screens and things like that? will you get compensation? all of these people must be included and that includes people in the cultural sector as well. we know that people who are a living as stand—up comedians for example have had their ability to earn a living shutdown as well. there are 59 thousand people in the north—east who are struggling if these restrictions get put in

without adequate compensation. so, we are all as one on this across the whole of the north. if you take away somebody's freedom to earn a living, you have to compensate them for it. so, the government has got a choice here, all those new conservative mps in the north have a choice here, you can either decide you're going to level up the north or are you going to level down the north. thank you very much, jamie. darn, could i invite you to say a few words? thank you very much. i think my frustration stems from the fact that when we entered this crisis months ago, there was a clear offer from metro mayors in the north of england and right around the country to work constructively and cooperatively with the government. we recognise that this was a national crisis, we recognise the need forjoined up government and the need for people to come together to serve the public under these uniquely challenging

conditions. it has been a source of great frustration to us that the government did not seem to want to embrace that offer that we made to them in good faith and what we have seen them in good faith and what we have seenis them in good faith and what we have seen isa them in good faith and what we have seen is a top—down, overly centralised approach. that has not been anywhere near as effective as it should have been. ithink been anywhere near as effective as it should have been. i think our frustration has bubbled over in re ce nt frustration has bubbled over in recent days, when the government decided that they thought it was appropriate to breathe, no disrespect to ourjournalist colleagues, to briefjournalists before having the meaningful conversations with leaders, not just in the north, but right around the country and that is a mistake, we are the people who have that granularity of understanding about both the challenges and the opportunities that exist in our local area. nobody sat in whitehall could ever understand the situation on the ground in the communities that we represent, so we are part of the solution and we need to be

involved at an early point in the government's decision—making process, to ensure that it is shaped in the right way and that can be delivered and implemented by local leaders on the ground. other colleagues have rightly laid out their concerns about the short—term economic measures that the chancellor announced yesterday. clearly we are still working through the detail of what that might mean, but it seems clear to all of us that it will not go anywhere near far enough to prevent very significant levels of hardship over the coming weeks and months and significant proportions of our business community will be, frankly, struggling to survive. i think it is important that the government looks at what more could be done. i think the point that i wanted to make, at this point, is of course the government is under huge amount of pressure in terms of seeking to manage the here and now, the day—to—day management of this crisis, the economic support package. that creates a huge amount of work and pressure, of course it

does, for government, but i think it is very important that they do not lose sight of the medium to longer term commitments that they have previously made. the government were elected on a manifesto commitment to level up the country. they were elected on a manifesto commitment to the northern powerhouse. as others have said, there is a very real concern and risk that instead of levelling up, covid is going to vary significantly level down and levelling up, covid is going to vary significa ntly level down and those communities that were already deprived or already struggling economically or suffering even greater as a result of the crisis. i peevishly flagged to the chancellor and prime minister as a peevishly flagged to the chancellor and prime ministeras a new peevishly flagged to the chancellor and prime minister as a new deal for the north and we are all conscious that we believe there will be a comprehensive spending review in the autumn and if the government are serious about levelling up, if they are serious about making the devolved structures that they put in

place were, then the comprehensive spending review and that investment through mayors and combined authorities and local authorities in the north is absolutely critical and thatis the north is absolutely critical and that is the test on which their commitment to the north and two levelling up will be judged. thank you, kevin. thank you very much. we are going to move to questions now, firstly you should all have received a letter in your inboxes, that the communications team have sent out. i will start with media for the liverpool city region because steve has to leave for a meeting with government. can i call first on the liverpool echo? hi, do we have further clarity on the rules that will be imposed with regards to restaurants, leisure centres, barbers, hairdressers, it was indicated this morning that they may be exempt and not fall in line with the restrictions imposed upon pubs and bars? is there any more clarity

on that during the conversation you have had? the problem is, it depends on what tier you are placed in and we have been told clearly by central government that hours is almost certainly going to be level three, the highest one and within that, there are some things that are absolute and there are some things that can be negotiated and one of them is around whatjamie driscoll spoke about, the vexed issue of what isa pub, spoke about, the vexed issue of what is a pub, and gastro pub, restaurant, cafe, a club? there will be some discussions following this immediately about what that actually means in the detail of the package of support which would have to follow. the real answer is nobody knows, including governments, because i don't think this has been fully thought through first and then announced that this was late in the

government then have had to scrabble things together very quickly and thatis things together very quickly and that is the wrong way round to do things. in terms of the package... we arejust going things. in terms of the package... we are just going to come out of that briefing, the damning intervention there, in particular from andy burnham, mayor of manchester, saying they do not accept the government proposals because the package of support, the payments put out by rishi sunak are simply not enough. they have said the proposal for simply not enough. they have said the proposalfor a simply not enough. they have said the proposal for a two thirds of wages is going to be impossible, especially for people on lower incomes and living on minimum wage, they cannot manage and the timetable for this, the people eligible are limited and for the self—employed, no support at all. much more coming up no support at all. much more coming up here on bbc news.

good afternoon. leaders in the north of england say the package of financial help being offered by the government isn't enough to protect their communities from hardship, as parts of england face greater restrictions from next week. speaking at a joint press conference this lunchtime, the mayor of greater manchester, andy burnham, said many businesses in the north were already on a knife edge. the government is expected to announce a tiered framework for restrictions on monday.