Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham along with deputy Bev Hughes and all the council leaders from across the city region have released a statement following Boris Johnson's press conference.

An initial statement that was released did not include Bolton Council leader David Greenhalgh's name, however, he has since told The Bolton News that he fully supports the message.

The statement said: "At our last meeting with Downing Street officials yesterday morning, we were told they would arrange a further meeting later in the day to provide a response to our requests.

"That did not happen and, despite being on standby all day today, we are still waiting for it to be arranged.

"We can assure the Prime Minister that we are ready to meet at any time to try to agree a way forward.

"We can also say with confidence that we have done, and will continue to do, everything within our power to protect the health of our residents, including being the first area in the country to agree to local restrictions back in July.

"We are not convinced that closing hospitality venues is the only way to protect hospitals and we want to look at other measures such as reinstating shielding arrangements and introducing tougher instant closure powers on non-compliant pubs, restaurants, shops and other business premises.

"We firmly believe that protecting health is about more than controlling the virus and requires proper support for people whose lives would be severely affected by a Tier 3 lockdown.

"We do not believe that the current proposals provide adequate support and that is why we await further talks with the government."

The announcement comes after Boris Johnson said he would intervene and impose Tier 3 restrictions on Greater Manchester even if an agreement could not be met.

Cllr Greenhalgh said: "Due to technical difficulties I could not add my name to the statement before its release, however I fully support it.

"We are committed to protect Greater Manchester as much as we can. We will put emphasis on shielding and we believe hospitality closures will just encourage gatherings elsewhere.

"We are are waiting for the dialogue to continue."