What can I say other than a massive thanks to you all.
Best job in the world in the best city-region in the world.
I will continue to give it my all for you.
Anywhere could end up in Tier 3 this winter.
That’s why our fight was always everyone’s fight.
We’re so grateful for the messages of support from across the country. Thank you. 🙏
This is now rightly going before Parliament tomorrow. Please ask your MP to vote for fairness. 👇
The Government's treatment of the North West has been a disgrace. It is treating millions of people with contempt.
Tomorrow Labour will force Parliament to vote for a fair deal for communities facing restrictions.
Following the PM’s announcement on further restrictions across the country we have decided to extended the furlough scheme for a further month covering 80% of employees’ wages.
Been thinking a lot about this.
Are we really saying we’re all comfortable with giving the highest-paid £50 off their restaurant bills but not giving the lowest-paid any access to statutory sick pay nor help to self-isolate?
Don’t know about you but I’m not.
#EatOutToHelpOut
Delicious lunch at the White Horse in Hascombe - thanks to Paul and Sorrel Morganti and their great team and of course to
@RishiSunak
!
#EatOutToHelpOut
This is not, repeat NOT, what the daily briefings should be used for. The public need to be given more science and facts, starting with the regional R numbers, not patronising “good news” stories.
"Football is coming back"
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden announces "one third of matches to finish the season will now be free to view" and "live Premier League football will be on the BBC for the first time in its history"
Updates:
The patronising “the-North-should-be-grateful-for-what-it’s-given” mentality that’s been on display over the last 24 hours is the primary reason why we have such a large North-South divide in this country.
So that’s the Chief Scientific Adviser joining the Chief Medical Officer and his two deputies in casting doubt on whether Tier 3 will work.
And yet I’m the one putting health at risk?
It feels increasingly like it’s the living standards of ordinary people being sacrificed in the name of tackling inflation whilst others are left completely free to charge inflated prices and make excessive profits.
Understand the concerns from London-based media & businesses about the impact of Tier 2.
But please remember: GM-based businesses have been under these restrictions for 10 weeks with no support.
This is why we’re fighting so hard. It’s about survival. Cities should join forces.
When it comes to pay, and its effect on inflation, why does the public debate always focus on the wages of those in the bottom 50% and never on those in the top 50%?
Yes, I am furious and I don’t mind admitting it. I cannot bear to see young people from working class backgrounds shafted on an industrial scale by an elitist education system more concerned with grade inflation than fairness and social mobility.
#LevellingDown
Andy Burnham is absolutely furious about the
#examshambles
.
On what grounds can you say that a young person who goes to a 6th form college in Greater Manchester gets different treatment from somebody who goes to a private school in Oxfordshire.. it's simply wrong
#BBCBreakfast
Perhaps we could pay rail workers a decent wage if billions hadn’t been shovelled into a bloated privatised railway during the pandemic.
Has the case for rail re-nationalisation ever been clearer?
#RMT
Millions at risk of hunger, poverty and homelessness.
No functioning government.
Never forget that this is the position in which the Conservative Party placed Britain.
I struggle to see how Ministers can drop the requirement to wear masks on public transport without causing real problems for some people who are dependent on it.
Those more vulnerable to infection or anxious about it will be put in a very unfair position.
Rethink needed?
God, where to start with this?
▪️In March, I was one of the first to call for national lockdown when Ministers were stalling
▪️In May, I opposed the lifting of lockdown as too early for the North
▪️In July, I was the first Mayor to agree to local restrictions
Truth twisters.
This should be the last time when other football takes place on the same day as the Women’s World Cup Final.
It is time for the whole footballing world to give the women’s and girls’ game the respect it deserves.
You haven’t got this quite right Chris.
We asked for £90m - which is the cost of an 80% furlough & self-employed scheme.
We were offered £60m - 66% of our ask, the same that pub staff in Heywood & Middleton are deemed to be worth.
You can vote to change that today. Will you?
Greater Manchester MPs wrote to Andy Burnham today to express our concern about his failure to come to an agreement with the Government. The Mayor now needs to let Local MPs and council leaders have a go at getting a sensible settlement.
You can’t tell people to “think carefully” before going to pubs and restaurants and then fail to provide any support for the workers/businesses affected.
The Government needs to bring forward a support package TODAY for hospitality, events, music and other affected sectors.
People criticising the wage asks of public sector workers:
You need to remember they’ve had years of real-terms pay cuts going into this.
That’s why their situation is so dire.
If you clapped them two years ago, support them now. It’s more important.
Honestly Marcus, Greater Manchester could not love you more. You don’t have to justify yourself to anyone here, whatever they write about you. We just have one ask: please keep being who you are and doing what you do. ✊🏻
Just heard
@spectator
are planning to run a story on me tomorrow about how I have benefitted commercially in the last 18 months…To clarify, I don’t need to partner with brands. I partner because I want to progress the work I do off the pitch and…(1)
The UK has one of the strongest medicines and vaccines regulatory systems in the world.
I can say that with confidence as a former Health Secretary.
So, please, don’t believe the scare stories.
If the
@MHRAgovuk
says it is safe, it IS safe.
UK regulators have approved the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for widespread use
But, what is the MHRA (Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) and how did they decide the vaccine was safe?
The Government has announced that senior executives can temporarily leave quarantine in England if they are undertaking business activities which will bring 'significant economic benefit' to the economy.
For more on this and other news visit
After 35 years of deregulated buses in Greater Manchester ...
35 years of rising fares and routes being cut ...
We are bringing our buses back under public control. 👍🏻
I have fought for the ability to support low-paid people and businesses who will be most harmed by Tier 3 closures. Simple as that. Please don’t misrepresent my position.
Honestly, can barely believe what I’m reading here. 👇
Why on earth was this not put on the table on Tuesday to reach an agreement with us?
I said directly to the PM that a deal was there to be done if it took into account the effects on GM businesses of three months in Tier 2.
Rishi Sunak has announced that cash grants of up to £2,100 will be made available to companies hit by Tier 2 restrictions - and this will be *retrospective*
ie it will help Manchester and the North-east, contrary to complaints by Burnham et al
So it turned up! 😅
The first ever
@BeeNetwork
service arrives at Farnworth Bus Station at 4.30am.
Greater Manchester is back in control of its buses. 👍🏻
Said I wasn’t going to comment but now feel compelled to do so on the back of this Government briefing.
At no point during tonight’s briefing was this news communicated to us. Media told first once again. Our position has not changed.
Over the last 24 hours I have developed mild symptoms and tested positive for coronavirus.
I am now self-isolating, but I will continue to lead the government’s response via video-conference as we fight this virus.
Together we will beat this.
#StayHomeSaveLives
Today will be difficult for everyone in Greater Manchester.
But we all know that every day since 22/5/2017 has been difficult for the families of those we lost and those injured.
We think about you and will be always be there for you.
❤️🐝
I’ve lost count of the number of Tory Ministers who accused me of “playing politics” and “posturing”.
But now it emerges that SAGE were recommending to the same Ministers exactly what I said GM and the North needed.
I hope people can see now why I fought in the way that I did.
I remember
@reid6peter
warning that this would happen. But it’s still quite shocking to see the dark arts at work.
Just ignore it, Marcus. You don’t have to justify yourself to anyone. If anything, it only makes us even more proud of you for having the courage to step forward.
Ok, so let’s address this. I’m 23. I came from little. I need to protect not just my future but my family’s too. To do that I made a decision at the beg of 2020 to start investing more in property. Please don’t run stories like this alongside refs to ‘campaigning’.
After 17 years of stress and hassle, we have just done our final school run.
I don’t know whether to be happy or sad, to laugh or cry.
Thank you from us all to the brilliant head, teachers and support staff at the wonderful institution that is Eddies
@SEACHS1961
.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🥲😢
Today I will confirm the names of the operators who will run the first bus services in England to be brought back under public control since deregulation in 1986.
This is the front page of tomorrow's Daily Telegraph:
'Teachers handed out 'implausibly high' predicted grades, says exams regulator'
#TomorrowsPapersToday
“It’s OK to close ticket offices as 88% are sold online,” say rail bosses.
Two things.
1. Do they really have no regard whatsoever for the passengers who buy the 12%?
2. Don’t they realise their brilliant ticket office staff do a lot more than sell tickets?
#SaveTicketOffices
EXCLUSIVE : A video shared with the New Statesman showed Sunak boasting to Conservative Party members that he was prepared to take public money out of “deprived urban areas” to help wealthy towns.
Starting to focus on this election & everything that’s at stake.
So just wanted to say: come on
@JoeBiden
, you can do this!
Good luck in these final hours. There are millions rooting for you here in the UK.
A better world’s possible than the one we’ve had these last 4 years 🤞
Public transport is so expensive in our part of the world.
This is the cost of a one-stop, 20-minute journey.
To be levelled up, we need London-level fares.
Accept nothing less.