Leaders across Greater Manchester have been given until midday today to reach an agreement on the introduction of Tier 3 restrictions.

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick announced the Government was giving Greater Manchester a deadline after 10 days of discussions late last night.

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said it was "provocative" of the Government to tell local leaders they have a deadline to agree to Tier 3 restrictions or face action.

Mr Jenrick said late last night: "The public health situation in Greater Manchester continues to deteriorate.

"We’ve now had 10 days of discussions in good faith with local leaders in Greater Manchester, we’ve not so far been able to reach an agreement.

"We’ve offered a comprehensive package of support, in addition to the national measures that have been set out by the Chancellor.

"I’ve written this evening to the mayor of Greater Manchester (Andy Burnham) and to local leaders in the city region to say that if we’re not able to reach agreement by noon tomorrow, then with deep regret I’ll have to advise the Prime Minister that we’re not able to reach an agreement at this time."

Andy Burnham has responded this morning saying the announcement was a "provocative move", but that he will try and make it positive.

He said on BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The letter is odd in that it is both an ultimatum but it references potential additional support that could be given to us.

"The thing is we’ve never been given a figure for that additional support.

"What I’ll be proposing to the Greater Manchester leaders when we meet this morning, quite early, is that we write to the Government setting out what we think a fair figure is for that support, given we’ve been under restrictions for three months and that has taken a real toll on people and businesses here.

"The second thing we would need is full flexibility to support the people that we think are going to need to be supported in a Tier 3 lockdown.

"I have to say I am worried genuinely about the Tier 3 policy as it is developing because we have had briefings from very senior figures – the deputy chief medical officer – who said to us that for Tier 3 to have a chance you have to close a lot of things.

"The trouble with the way that the Government are pursuing this at the moment is that they are not funding local areas to support people through the closure of lots of things within their community, and that is a major flaw at the heart of this Tier 3 strategy as it develops."