Another lockdown will have a “devastating” effect on the town and city centres and regional economy of West Yorkshire, its council leaders have warned.

In a joint letter to the Chancellor and health and housing secretaries on Friday, the leaders said it will result in the “levelling down” of the region.

Their comments come days before Prime Minister Boris Johnson will outline a new three-tiered system of coronavirus restrictions that is expected to cause pubs and restaurants to shut across the north of England.

The leaders added: “We remain to be convinced that further restrictions that involve closing businesses would be the most effective way of tackling the virus, particularly when the health of our economy, people’s jobs and livelihoods are at stake.

“Therefore, we are concerned by rumours in the media that we might be pushed into Level 3 of a new system set to be introduced, without any discussion or consultation, or without adequate economic measures put in place to support affected people and businesses.

“Another lockdown will have a devastating effect on our town and city centres and the overall regional economy. It will result in a levelling down of our region and undo the good work we have done over the last decade to improve the fortunes of our people.”

The leaders said that Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s announcement that workers in businesses which are forced to close under the new restrictions will have two thirds of their wages paid by the Government was “not enough”, and that more support was needed to prevent an “even deeper economic catastrophe”.

They added: “Government must, for both Levels 2 and 3, provide a substantial economic package including grants and furlough – not just where businesses are mandated to close.

“In a three-level approach, there must be significantly more support available to businesses in areas that are in either level two or level three to avoid an even deeper economic catastrophe.”

The leaders also called for the Government to: – enhance the current Government grant scheme to also support businesses trading at lower levels or forced to close; – adapt and “deepen” the job retention scheme to protect jobs to the same level as the original lockdown where businesses must close; – enhance the Covid-19 recovery grants to support adaptation to new rules.

In the letter, they also said that local leaders should be involved in any decision, local areas need be given the resources to lead the health response, and people self-isolating should be given “sufficient support”.

The leaders said the Government must be more transparent in sharing evidence and set out clearly the conditions under which a region would move into or out of a particular level.

In a joint statement alongside the letter, they said: “This evening we met with senior Government officials about the next steps for controlling the rising Covid-19 infection rates across the region.

“There was collective agreement that the rising rates are a cause of major concern and pressure is growing on our local NHS services.

“We argued strongly that investment in local contact tracing along with sustained business and community engagement will make a real and significant difference to the infection rate, something which has been previously overlooked by Government.

“We also made clear that businesses need help and support now, both for those that cannot open, and for those that are suffering as a result of the restrictions.

“We have been informed that next week the Government is reviewing the restrictions in place across West Yorkshire.

“To avoid further measures being put in place we will need to ensure social distancing, self-isolation and other measures are being followed, and we have made clear that to do this effectively we need more support for our communities.”