Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has accused the government of treating the region as a "sacrificial lamb" and vowed: "We aren't going to be pushed around anymore."
Leaders in Greater Manchester have rejected being put into the highest category of the government's new three-tier system for localised COVID-19 restrictions, amid a bitter political row.
A call between Greater Manchester leaders and Downing Street officials failed to reach an agreement on new restrictions on Thursday.
And, after those inconclusive talks, Mr Burnham revealed: "Today we communicated our clear and unanimous view to the government.
"It is wrong to place some of the poorest parts of England in a punishing lockdown without proper support for the people and businesses affected."
In an outspoken attack on the government's new localised lockdown system, Mr Burnham accused ministers of testing out the three-tier approach on parts of northern England.
"Greater Manchester, the Liverpool City Region and Lancashire are being set up as the canaries in the coalmine for an experimental regional lockdown strategy as an attempt to prevent the expense of what is truly needed," he said.
Urging the government to pursue a different course and consider a return to stringent England-wide restrictions, the Greater Manchester mayor said: "I've said it may be that we need to look at a national circuit-break as preferable to this unfunded, risky regional lockdown strategy.
"We have to protect the health of the nation but let's do it as one nation, and not make the North of England the sacrificial lamb for an ill-thought-through Downing Street policy which doesn't make sense in the real world."
Mr Burnham claimed the England's deputy chief medical officer, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, had told Greater Manchester leaders that "the only certain thing to work is a national lockdown".
"But the government told us this morning it is unwilling to do that because of the damage it will do to the national economy.
"And yet that is what they want to impose on the North West."
He added the government was "treating us with contempt", adding: "People are fed up of being treated in this way, the North is fed up of being pushed around.
"We aren't going to be pushed around anymore."
Under Tier 3 restrictions, people are banned from socialising with other households both indoors and in private gardens, while bars and pubs are closed unless they can operate as restaurants only.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMigwFodHRwczovL25ld3Muc2t5LmNvbS9zdG9yeS9jb3JvbmF2aXJ1cy1ncmVhdGVyLW1hbmNoZXN0ZXItYmVpbmctdXNlZC1ieS1nb3Zlcm5tZW50LWFzLXNhY3JpZmljaWFsLWxhbWItY2xhaW1zLWFuZHktYnVybmhhbS0xMjEwNDk0NNIBhwFodHRwczovL25ld3Muc2t5LmNvbS9zdG9yeS9hbXAvY29yb25hdmlydXMtZ3JlYXRlci1tYW5jaGVzdGVyLWJlaW5nLXVzZWQtYnktZ292ZXJubWVudC1hcy1zYWNyaWZpY2lhbC1sYW1iLWNsYWltcy1hbmR5LWJ1cm5oYW0tMTIxMDQ5NDQ?oc=5
2020-10-15 18:12:19Z
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