BEAUTICIANS have welcomed the new call for casinos, bowling alleys, and beauty parlours to be allowed to open across Greater Manchester.

Leaders across the borough have urged the government to allow close-contact services to resume – two weeks after they were able to restart in the rest of the country.

Speaking on Wednesday, Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said: “There is no case any more to delay the opening of these establishments.

“The evidence is that the vast majority of transmissions is in the home so we don’t see any case to continue the prohibition.”

Many businesses and self-employed beauticians have welcomed the news, including 33-year-old Dionne Leece, a semi-permanent artist who runs The Dressing Up Box.

Mrs Leece specialises in cosmetic facial procedures and medical tattooing, such as clinical areola replacement for breast cancer survivors.

She said: "I'd be absolutely over the moon to go back to work – I have not worked for five months now and I'm not entitled to any grants.

"I have three children and I can't tell you how much we're struggling.

"The only thing I have to be grateful for is that my partner can pick up overtime, he's working 70 hours some weeks to keep us going.

"It's like some one has made me redundant and there's no financial means available.

"There are around three million people like myself who have been completely ineligible for funding – it's absolutely soul destroying."

Mrs Leece has been on three training courses to ensure that she is "covid secure" and ready to reopen when the times comes.

As she usually works on cosmetic procedures on client's faces, she has had to postpone her return to work three times already.

The lack of work has allowed her to bring new treatments to her clients, offering fake freckles and scar camouflaging.

She added: "This isn't a job to me, this is a business I set up when I was made redundant whilst I was pregnant – I used all of my savings and went for it.

"It's not just that I'm missing an income either, I'm missing something that keeps my mind right, something I love doing, that I enjoy, and I'm missing my clients too.

"I've had two models in this week so I could practice my new camouflaging treatment on their bodies and it was amazing to get back in there."