By Ben Kerrigan-
Millions of Londoners and Essex residents will face tougher Tier 2 Covid measures from Saturday, with a ban on households mixing indoors, local MPs have been told.
Close to 30million people will be on a heightened state of lockdown
Under Tier 2, households will be barred from mixing in pubs and restaurants and people should aim to reduce use of public transport. Liverpool is already under the highest tier, banning mixing of households
Labour mayor Sadiq Khan said there was “simply no other option”.
“Nobody wants to see more restrictions but this is deemed to be necessary in order to protect Londoners,” he said.
Mr Khan said he is continuing to press the for more financial support, adding that “we’ve got a difficult winter ahead”.
The London mayor also backed calls by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer for a temporary national “circuit-breaker” to stem the spread of the disease. Labour shadow minister and Ilford North MP Wes Streeting said the new restrictions in London would keep businesses open “in name only” as he called for more economic support.
The tier change means the capital’s 3,640 pubs and 7,556 restaurants will not be eligible for government support available to premises which have been ordered to close.
Mr Streeting said: “There are lots of restaurants, pubs, bars and other venues whose doors will be open but customers will just not be walking through the door.”
Robert Halfon, the Conservative MP for Harlow in Essex, said he would welcome Tier 2 measures for the county but would call on Chancellor Rishi Sunak to prevent businesses suffering financially from the move.
He said: “The key issue is if we don’t do this now we could face the much higher restrictions in a few weeks which would be even worse for businesses.”
But Rupa Huq, Labour MP for Ealing Central and Acton in west London, tweeted that she was “unconvinced this tinkering is really enough” and called for a circuit-breaker to stop the disease “spreading like wildfire”.
Greater Manchester are still awaiting a final decision on restrictions to be imposed on them with local leaders expressing concerns about the impact on the hospitality industry. However, the Mayor of London has threatened legal action
Tier 3 measures involve pub closures and different households being banned from mixing indoors or outdoors. Meanwhile, other parts of England will move into Tier 2 from Saturday.
Under this “high” alert level, the regions will face restrictions on meeting indoors.