London’s lockdown future was balanced on a knife edge today as ministers weighed up whether to place the capital in Tier 2 or 3.
Boris Johnson is under pressure from his own party, an army of business leaders and Sadiq Khan not to impose the harshest restrictions on the city, fearing they could throttle the economic engine of the UK.
The Prime Minister will tomorrow carve up Britain into three ‘alert levels’ of varying strictness for when the national lockdown ends on December 2.
Londoners have seized upon evidence of the city’s falling infection rate, which is below the national average, to bolster their demands to dodge Tier 3.
Tier 3 would ban households mixing indoors or outdoors and limit pubs and restaurants to selling just takeaways.
Whereas proponents argue looser Tier 2 restrictions would breathe some life back into the economy as pubs could open if they serve a substantial meal.
Hotelier Mark Fuller, who owns the popular celebrity haunt Karma Sanctum in Soho, said that putting the capital in Tier 3 from December will see 50 per cent of hospitality businesses go to the wall.
Londoners have seized upon evidence of the city’s falling infection rate, which is below the national average, to bolster their demands to dodge Tier 3
Boris Johnson is under pressure from both his own party not to impose the harshest restrictions on the city, fearing they could throttle the economic engine of the UK
As Londoners anxiously awaited tomorrow’s announcement, a City Hall source told the Daily Mail that London could go either way and is currently ‘in the balance’.
A Conservative source told MailOnline people are ‘worried’ London could be put into Tier 3, but believed Tier 2 is the most likely course of action.
They said: ‘The capital’s rate of infection is significantly below the levels other cities had when they entered Tier 3.’
The Prime Minister, himself a former mayor of the city, remained tight-lipped today on which tier the capital will enter when grilled at PMQs.
His successor in City Hall Mr Khan and the Conservative mayoral candidate for next year’s election, Shaun Bailey, are both lobbying for the capital to be put into the middle tier.
Mr Bailey said Tier 3 would be a ‘disaster’, while Mr Khan reckoned it would result in a ‘hammer blow’ to businesses.
Writing in the Evening Standard, the Mayor said: ‘London’s unique economic ecosystem of bars, restaurants, clubs and cultural venues helps make us the greatest city in the world but they’ve been through an unbelievably tough year.
‘If ministers put London in Tier 3 it would mean them closing again throughout Christmas and New Year — another hammer blow that many would not survive.’
Both Mr Khan (right) and his Conservative mayoral rival (left) in next year’s election Shaun Bailey are lobbying for the capital to be put into the middle tier
Mr Khan, who agitated for stricter restrictions in the capital before the November lockdown, pointed to data showing cases in London lower than other areas expected to enter Tier 2.
The infection rate is falling in nine London boroughs, and the worst-hit boroughs are still outside the top 100 in the league table of 317 authorities in England.
The seven-day average in London was down to 197.2 per 100,000 residents yesterday from 198.9 on Saturday. The national average is currently 235.
Some Tory MPs are even agitating for London to avoid the top two tiers entirely.
Andrew Rosindell, Tory MP for Romford, today told Mr Johnson that if the capital were to enter Tier 2 or 3, it would have ‘devastating consequences for jobs, businesses, livelihoods, and of course physical and mental health’.
He called for the Government to publish a cost-benefit analysis of restrictions, which he warned could be even more damaging than the health impacts of the virus itself.
Former Tory party leader Mr Duncan Smith, MP for Chingford and Woodford Green in north east London, said: ‘London must be put into Tier 1… London is dominant in the economy and we need it to get back to work immediately.’
Yesterday business leaders in the capital lined up to warn the toughest restrictions would launch a wrecking ball through the city’s economy.
Richard Caring, who owns The Ivy, Annabel’s, Bill’s and Soho House, said rules to suppress Covid-19 were actually a ‘killer’ for businesses and are being imposed ‘without a great deal of thought’.
Kate Nicholls, chief executive of industry group UKHospitality, said she hopes London ‘enters as low a tier as possible, within the realms of achievable public health objectives’.
She added: ‘What is certain is that the higher the tier, the harder it will be for our businesses in London to survive.
‘We still have not seen any evidence that hospitality venues – which have invested great time effort and money to making their spaces Covid-secure – are a problem area in terms of infection, so it seems unfair and arbitrary that hospitality is being dealt such a harsh hand.’