Andy Burnham has accused the Government of wanting to 'punish me and blame me for everything' as the row over Tier 3 lockdown negotiations rumbled on.
The Mayor hit out after Transport Secretary Grant Shapps had appeared to blame him for the row for Greater Manchester's high coronavirus infection rates.
Speaking earlier today, Mr Shapps said 'individual negotiations' last time led to rates not being 'gotten on top of as quickly as possible'.
He said that Liverpool, which agreed to Tier 3 'quite quickly' had seen cases come down quickly and called the city 'a success story'.
Asked by Sky News host Kay Burley for his response to what she described as Mr Shapps' 'thinly veiled attack on you personally', Mr Burnham said he took a stand based on a 'matter of principle' and would 'do it again'.
He added: "It just seems to me that they can't leave it alone now and they want to come back and they want to punish me and blame me for everything.
"Can't we just agree there was a difference of opinion, it was resolved and now we all must look forward to getting things right going forward.
"That's the right way for everyone to go about things."
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Mr Burnham agreed when Ms Burley described the government's praise of Liverpool's handling of the Tier 3 negotiations as a 'bit of divide and conquer', saying 'everyone can see what they're doing'.
And he also warned ministers, who this time around have said they not include regional mayors in negotiations over tiers, they run risk of being known a 'bullying government'.
He said: "It doesn't say much about the Government that the minute they're challenged they say 'Oh well, I'm sorry we can't work with anybody, we're just going to bulldoze our way through'.
"There is a danger here. They are going to get a reputation, if they're not careful of being quite a bullying government.
"If they don't get their own way they take their toys home and just try and impose their will.
"That is not a responsible way to govern."
And Mr Burnham said Westminster needed to 'grow up' and decide if they wanted devolution or not, adding the North 'wasn't going to be pushed in the way we were in the past.
"They created these positions that I hold. There's no point in having devolution if you just bow down and do what you're told all the time.
"Governments get things wrong and sometimes governments need to be challenged.
"I wouldn't be able to look my residents in Greater Manchester in the eye if I sold them down the river just because the Government told me that was what they were going to do.
"Whitehall and Westminster need to decide - they need to grow up. Do they want devolution or not?
"Sometimes devolution is needed to be a check and balance on the system to stop governments bulldozing their way on the people.
"Because we all know it's been the North of England that has been on the sharp end of governments behaviour over many many years.
"We are finding our voice now. We are not going to be pushed around in the way that we were in the past.
"And if the Government doesn't like that and Whitehall doesn't like that well I'm sorry to they are going to have to get used to it."
