Rutland residents must 'do their bit' to earn a lower tier, says Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

The Minister made his comment in Parliament this afternoon after announcing that the whole of London, along with some neighbouring counties, would be placed in the highest level Tier 3 from later this week.

Rutland MP Alicia Kearns asked Mr Hancock about the possibility of Melton Borough being treated differently to Leicester. At present it remains in Tier 3, while the Rutland part of her constituency is in Tier 2.

Mrs Kearns said in parliament this afternoon: "Today's news is deeply sombre, so I ask my right hon. Friend to join me in urging residents of Rutland and Melton to be vigilant because we are also seeing cases rising locally, even in our villages.

"We have to get rates under control if we are to be decoupled from Leicester city, remain at most in tier 2 in Rutland, and protect ourselves from this new variant. Will he join me in thanking those who are working so hard locally to ready our vaccine hubs in Oakham and Melton for once the vaccine is ready for delivery outside of hospitals?"

Mr Hancock replied: "Yes, of course; absolutely. I am delighted that we are now vaccinating from over 100 different community settings, as well as 70 hospitals across the UK. It is a tribute to the whole vaccine roll-out team, who have done a magnificent job over the last—I was going to say over the last week that the vaccine has been rolling out, but it has been weeks and weeks in the planning before then."

He continued: "I would say to residents in Melton and Rutland that we will look at Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland separately when we make the decision on tiering on Wednesday.

"Those in Rutland who are in tier 2 still need to work at it and do their bit to try to keep Rutland in tier 2, and, of course, hopefully get to tier 1. It is so important that everybody does their bit."

After Mr Hancock made his comment, Mrs Kearns said on twitter: "I'm grateful & relieved that @MattHancock today confirmed to me in the House of Commons that Leicestershire will be tiered separately to Leicester after weeks of concerted lobbying by myself and colleagues

"That doesn't mean auto leave tier 3 as still have much work to do locally."