Call for more data and clarity on tier decisions as majority of Yorkshire placed in strictest measures despite falling rates

Downing Street has denied the tier system of coronavirus restrictions announced today was biased towards areas of the North where infection rates are plummeting among the quickest in the country.

South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, and Hull and the East Riding will all go into Tier 3 restrictions from December 2, when national rules across England end.

York and North Yorkshire will go into Tier 2.

However, Yorkshire and the Humber has the second fastest falling infection rate in England, according to the most recent seven-day averages.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock. Photo: PAHealth Secretary Matt Hancock. Photo: PA
Health Secretary Matt Hancock. Photo: PA
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Meanwhile London, all of which will be placed in Tier 2, has the second fastest rise in cases in the same figures.

Decisions on the tiers are taken using a number of factors including case detection rates in all age groups, case detection rates in the over 60s and the rate at which cases are rising or falling.

The two other measures are the positivity rate – the number of positive cases detected as a percentage of tests taken – and pressure on the NHS, including current and projected occupancy.

But a number of MPs called for more clarity on the data and processes used to come to decisions, despite the Government publishing its reasoning online.

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The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “I would point you towards the written ministerial statement which sets out a rationale for each area based on the criteria we set out earlier this week. As the Health Secretary has set out in Parliament, we will continue to monitor this, we will continue to look at the data, and there will be a review on December 16 so there is a way to move from Tier 3 to Tier 2.”

He denied economic factors had played a part in the decision-making and said London did not receive a special exemption.

But the Government’s data of seven-day rolling averages of rates per 100,000 people showed between November 6 and November 20 - when the most recent data is available - Yorkshire and the Humber’s rates fell by 29 per cent, while London’s rose by 17 per cent.

Similarly rates in the North West and the North East also dropped, and Newcastle East’s Labour MP Nick Brown wrote to Health Secretary Matt Hancock to say the city’s case rate of 343.8 per 100,000 was lower than the London borough of Havering’s 366.8.

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In the rationale published along with the tiering decisions, it said although rates were improving in most areas, they still remained very high in all parts of Yorkshire and the Humber, in both all ages and the over 60s. In the Humber and South Yorkshire, there was extra pressure on the NHS.

In the Commons, Mr Hancock said he would review restrictions every week following a question from York Outer Tory MP Julian Sturdy, who said he was against the decision that the city would go into Tier 2 when “York’s Covid rate continues to fall, and is the lowest in Yorkshire.”

And Jonathan Webb, Senior Research Fellow at think tank IPPR North said: “People in the North need far more clarity than they’ve received so far today as to why they’re facing enhanced restrictions compared to other parts of the country. Without this clarity, the Government’s approach loses credibility. “

Henri Murison, director of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership lobbying group, added: “It is only fair that those areas in Yorkshire that have falling rates on a par with London get the same treatment and are put into Tier 2.”

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A number of Conservative MPs are expected to rebel to vote against the new tiering system next week, including Shipley’s Philip Davies.

But Prime Minister Boris Johnson said “your tier is not your destiny” and added: “While the data is beginning to improve, the virus is still prevalent, and the faster we drive it down the faster we can lift restrictions.”

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