Ashby MP Andrew Bridgen says he will lobby the Government to split the city from the county when tiers are next reviewed – but Leicester's Mayor has disagreed, saying the virus 'knows no boundaries'.

Mr Bridgen, Conservative MP for North West Leicestershire revealed he lobbied - and will continue to lobby -the Government not to include his patch in the tier 3 coronavirus restrictions which were announced today (Thursday).

There has been a rise in cases in the area over the past fortnight with infection rates sitting above the national average.

In the two weeks before November 21, there were 724 cases in North West Leicestershire.

The rise in positive results led to North West Leicestershire coming in at 346.5 cases per 100,000 people. The national average is 240.7.

Mr Bridgen told followers: "If Leicestershire continues to be combined with Leicester with regard to the Covid risk , our constituents and businesses will start to lose hope of ever being released from the tier 3 restrictions.

"Given the ongoing problems in the city and its Labour administration's clear failings throughout the pandemic, I and my county colleagues will be lobbying Government hard for partition of the city and county."

Some areas of the county were included when the local lockdown was originally announced some 150 days ago, but North West Leicestershire has never been subject to tougher restrictions before.

Until recently, North West Leicestershire has largely remained under the radar when it comes to cases and rates.

Numbers there have been rising there over the last few weeks.

City mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said he did not think it was practical to split the city from the county.

He said: "I have said before, and say again now, the boundary is nothing but a line on a map.

"If you are in Glenfield or New Parks, for example, you can easily walk across it.

"The virus certainly does not recognise it. If we want these new restrictions to work I don't see how you can split the city from the county."