'We could not have got more' - Mayor defends South Yorkshire financial support deal amid calls for more cash for areas under coronavirus restrictions

Some 1.4m people across Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and Sheffield will be under the restrictions from Saturday, which bans all household mixing - whether indoors or outdoors - and forces certain businesses including pubs to close.

And Sheffield City Region mayor Dan Jarvis said he had secured a £41m economic support package from the Government to accompany the measures.

But Sheffield City Council’s leader Julie Dore pleaded with ministers to “do the right thing” and offer extra support to all Tier 3 areas, while Rotherham leader Chris Read said the Government had not been willing to negotiate despite days of talks between leaders.

The deal with South Yorkshire comes after bitter wrangling over money with Greater Manchester led to the highest level of restrictions being imposed from Whitehall without an agreement.

And Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer today called for a clear framework setting out the support on offer to regions in Tier 2 and Tier 3 of the coronavirus measures rather than “grubby, take-it-or-leave it” deals.

Ms Dore said: “We will continue to push Government to provide enough support for people and businesses as they are now placing us in these measures which will have such serious consequences for the people most impacted.”

While Mr Read added: “There is nothing in the announcement today that the Government could not have decided to introduce days ago.

“There have been no meaningful negotiations with local leaders. It has become clear over the last few days during our conversations with Government that they already had a template of measures and funding in mind.”

But Mr Jarvis defended agreeing the deal, and said: “I’ve moved heaven and earth to secure the maximum amount of resource that we could. I honestly don’t think I could have got any more money out of the Government.”

Mr Jarvis said he was “absolutely” in step with all four council leaders in South Yorkshire, adding: “We’ve worked incredibly closely together.”

But he said his response had been right, despite not being as outspoken as Greater Manchester.

“I think the approach was the right one,” he said. “In the end, we’ve got to do what we think is best for our residents.

“Andy’s done that in Greater Manchester. I hold him in the highest regard.

“I’ve done what I think is best here in South Yorkshire and we’ve secured an amount that I don’t think we honestly could have bettered.”

But he added: “We need to keep talking to Government about what more support they are able to give. Certainly I’ll be making that case over the coming weeks and months.”

MPs today rejected calls from Labour to increase support for areas in Tier 3, as the Commons voted by 261 to 340 against a motion calling on the Government to publish “clear and fair national criteria” for financial help for businesses facing additional Covid-19 restrictions.

Sheffield Heeley MP and shadow cabinet minister Louise Haigh said: “Tory ministers are treating the North with contempt.”

Officials said that in South Yorkshire, case rates range from 285 people per 100,000 in Doncaster up to 402 people per 100,000 in Sheffield.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “A failure to act now would only lead to tougher and longer lasting restrictions later.”

The financial package agreed by Sheffield City Region with the Government includes £30m to support the region’s businesses and £11m for councils for measures such as test and trace.

But other MPs also called for a better deal for those in Tier 2, where businesses are not forced to close but are suffering from low demand due to a ban on households mixing indoors.

Thirsk and Malton Tory MP Kevin Hollinrake, whose North Yorkshire constituency is under Tier 2, said: “Where we’re requiring businesses to close, I think the schemes are good and purposeful, but there are some businesses that because of the restrictions, for example, in hospitality around the one household rule, they’re effectively unviable.

“It is restricting their business to such a significant degree.”

He asked Treasury minister Steve Barclay: “Would he consider widening those schemes – the job support scheme, for example – to those businesses which are just not viable in Tier 2 and Tier 3 because of that?”

Mr Barclay replied: “A lot of the debate is on Tier 3 – there are businesses that are impacted particularly in Tier 2, and we’re acutely aware of that and we’re discussing that with business leaders.”

While York Outer Tory MP Julian Sturdy asked Mr Johnson, during Prime Minister's Question to "urgently consider creation of specific support for York’s hospitality industry suffering losses from the limbo that Tier 2 is creating".

Their calls were echoed by Confederation of British Industry director-general Dame Carolyn Fairbairn, who said businesses were “suffering badly from lack of clarity and delayed timing on financial support”.

“The Government urgently needs to move to a more standardised system of support for areas and businesses moving into Tiers 2 or 3, with buy-in across all regions,” she said.

Today’s announcement means 7.3m people, or 13 per cent of England’s population, will now be living under Tier 3 restrictions.

In South Yorkshire, the restrictions will also include the closure of betting shops, adult gaming centres, casinos and soft play centres.

Gym classes will not be allowed, but gyms will remain open.

Elsewhere, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman confirmed that talks over moving to Tier 3 in West Yorkshire had been paused.