98 per cent of England estimated to go into Tiers 2 and 3 - Matt Hancock announces coronavirus tiers

London will enter Tier 2 along with Liverpool when the national lockdown lifts next week. But Manchester, Birmingham, Hull, Newcastle and swathes of the North are set to face the toughest coronavirus restrictions with only three areas - Cornwall, the Isle of Wight and Isles of Scilly placed into the lowest Tier 1 category. Other areas placed in to the highest of the Government’s three tiers include Birmingham, Bristol, Kent, parts of Essex, Yorkshire and the North East. MPs are expected to rebel over the plans when they are voted on next Tuesday. It is estimated that 98 per cent of England is in Tier 2 and 3. A total of 23.3 million people in England - 41.5 per cent of the population - will be in Tier 3 alone. This is already mounting dissent on the backbenches, with Red Wall MPs accusing the Government of instigating a “North-South divide” with the new measures. The Government’s online tool allowing people to check which tier they are in by inputting their postcode crashed almost as soon as it was launched at 11.15am. Read our live blog with all the latest political news: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/11/26/tier-announcement-hancock-boris-johnson-rules-lockdown-covid/ Subscribe to The Telegraph on YouTube ► https://bit.ly/3idrdLH Get the latest headlines: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/ Telegraph.co.uk and YouTube.com/TelegraphTV are websites of The Telegraph, the UK's best-selling quality daily newspaper providing news and analysis on UK and world events, business, sport, lifestyle and culture.