Sheffield Council leader's anger at "charade" negotiations with ministers as South Yorkshire prepares to enter Tier 3

Coun Julie Dore is furious that the Government said South Yorkshire would be going into Tier 3 before the region's leaders had time to prepare.

She was inundated with calls and emails from businesses worried about the new restrictions and says the region has not yet received the £41m funding.

"I have gone through anger, frustration, despair and back to anger," said Coun Dore.

"This Government is incompetent. I have worked with Tory MPs and ministers before but they were competent. The way Boris Johnson's Government is managing this pandemic is frightening."

Sheffield City Region has not revealed how much it asked for but it was a proportionally similar amount as Manchester - and the funding it actually received was significantly lower than hoped.

Coun Dore said: "Our figure was well above the £30m given and the £11m public health funding, which will be shared proportionally across South Yorkshire.

"I asked for the adult education budget to be brought forward so we could spend it immediately and I asked for more flexibility in the way we spend the Towns Funding for Stocksbridge and Penistone because this was an emergency but the answer was no.

"We don't know how flexible the £30m is and the main sting is we can't use it to do a local furlough scheme, we cannot use it to top up the Job Support Scheme.

"The Government had already decided this was a national formula for regions and they were not prepared to change it for us.

"There were all these ridiculous negotiations and claims that we were properly negotiating but I have never known such a charade.

"I did think at the start we were in genuine negotiations and we tried to get the best for Sheffield but they had figures in mind.

"We went through this charade and ended up with proportionally what the other regions have because it's a national Tier 3 system.

"When we heard what happened in Manchester, we knew it was game over for Sheffield."

Coun Dore first met civil servants on October 9 and then Sheffield was automatically put into Tier 2 last week.

Her anger about the timing of the Tier 3 announcement is palpable.

"Last week we started private conversations with civil servants because there was a rumour that Matt Hancock was announcing Sheffield was going into Tier 3.

"I immediately rang them and they said they would not do that because we were in discussions.

"I said we needed time to get our ducks in a row because businesses would find it alarming but the announcement was taken out of our hands. We tried our very best to work with them.

"I was notified late on Tuesday night that the announcement would be made at 9am Wednesday morning and I pleaded for it not to happen.

"I was on the phone to Clive Betts MP at 12.30am and still sending emails at 1.45am.

"To say it was unfortunate timing is polite, it came out of the blue and at that time of night people are in bed.

"I really just wanted 24 hours to get our communication right."

Coun Dore says the region is now struggling with less funding than expected, no guidelines on how it should be spent or who is eligible and thousands of desperate businesses needing answers before Saturday.

"This funding is not enough and is significantly below what we deserve. It became apparent when they wanted to implement something that they had already decided how far they would go.

"I want the money in the bank account before one minute past midnight on Saturday because that is when businesses will start to suffer. When businesses suffer, employees suffer then households suffer.

"We don't even know if we can spend any of the money upfront but we want to get something in place as quickly as possible and we are frantically working on the criteria. We want a framework in place in the next 48 hours to give people reassurance.

"The unemployment rate is increasing quite dramatically by the day and I have been inundated with emails from businesses asking if they are eligible.

"Someone said they employed over 70 people in six bars and restaurants but they now only have four open with another one due to close.

"By next week they will employ less than 25 people and their trade is down by 40 per cent.

"They do serve meals but people are not coming in just to have a drink so they will substantially suffer. Their rents and overheads remain the same and they still have to pay wages.

This is one example from a number of emails and I wanted 24 hours grace to be able to tell businesses what is in place."