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."