Labour Party leaders in Cumbria have given their backing to Manchester mayor Andy Burnham in his battle to secure more funding from the Government as the city moves into the highest level of local lockdown.

The leaders of the Carlisle City Council and Copeland Council Labour Party groups, Colin Glover and Michael McVeigh, both put their name to a stern message from Labour council leaders and party group leaders from across the north of England.

The open letter, which was also signed by Barrow Council leader, Ann Thomson, threw support behind elected mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham in his pitched battle with the Prime Minister to secure greater financial support for the city’s residents as it heads into tier three lockdown restrictions, the highest level under the Government’s new local lockdown system.

“As leaders in the north, we stand alongside the mayor and leaders in Greater Manchester,” the letter stated.

“The Government’s focus on trying to get economic restrictions on the cheap has been a huge distraction for the north as we fight the virus.”

Mr Burnham had sought a settlement which would provide £90m in funding for Manchester.

This was a figure arrived at by Mr Burnham based on the cost of placing the Manchester workforce set to be affected by the restrictions into furlough, at 80 per cent of their salary from now until the end of the financial year.

His request was rejected by Westminster, with the lower figure of £60m being suggested instead, triggering two weeks of stony-faced negotiations which eventually saw both sides at an impasse separated by £5m – Westminster unwilling to meet Mr Burnham’s revised suggestion of £65m, who was equally unwilling to climb down from a figure he described as the “bare minimum to prevent a winter of real hardship”.

When challenged over the situation by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer last week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was “very proud” that the Government “has already given Greater Manchester £1.1bn in support for business, £200m in extra un-ringfenced funding, £50m to tackle infections in care homes, £20m for test and trace, [and] another £22m for local response”.

The stance taken by Mr Burnham, a former Labour Cabinet minister, has been divisive.

Many Labour politicians such as Mr Glover and Mr McVeigh have praised him for what they see as a defiant stand taken on behalf of the least well off.

But others such as Chris Clarkson and his fellow Greater Manchester Conservative MPs accused Mr Burnham of putting businesses in jeopardy with the “dogmatic stance” he took.

Mr Burnham welcomed on Friday the decision from the Government to backdate financial support for areas under tier two restrictions, benefitting businesses in Manchester which have been operating under tighter restrictions for some time.

The Prime Minister has also stated that Manchester will receive £60m in financial support from the Government as it enters tier-three lockdown restrictions.