Liverpool mayors Steve Rotheram and Joe Anderson said they were left in no doubt the government would bring in new lockdown rules "with or without them".
In a joint letter to the city, local leaders say they will continue the conversation to make sure jobs and businesses are protected after today's announcement.
This afternoon the PM Boris Johnson placed a number of new lockdown restrictions on the Liverpool city region as a result of increasing coronavirus cases.
He outlined a new three-tier system of local lockdown measures for England.
Different parts of the country will be split up into "medium", "high" or "very high" local coronavirus alert areas under the new system
Liverpool has been placed in the "very high" category or "Tier Three."
This means the following establishments will close meaning members of the public will not be able to visit:
- Pubs
- Bars
- Gyms
- Betting shops
- Casinos
- Adult gaming centres
It will also be made illegal for households to meet and travel out of the area will be advised against, but will not be against the law.
Addressing the city, leaders from the local city region councils and Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram, said: “Since we were first informed by the Government that, in response to the high and rising Covid-19 cases in the City Region, they would be placing the Liverpool City Region onto new Tier 3 restrictions, it was made clear to us that government would be doing this regardless of if we engaged with them or not.
“Since then we have been in dialogue with high level Government officials to try to negotiate a package of support in the best interests of the people of Liverpool City Region.
“We share the Government’s grave concerns about the increasing pressure on our hospitals and remain absolutely committed to working with the Government to drive down the spread of the Coronavirus and the number of Covid-19 cases.
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“For anyone who has been is any doubt about the gravity of the situation we face if we do not bring cases down, the preparations announced this morning to step up the North West NHS Nightingale Hospitals may now be a wake-up call.
“It is therefore now as important as it has ever been that we do everything we can to contain the virus, protect our NHS and save lives. "
The letter also outlined the parts of the new lockdown which local leaders did not agree with.
It said: "However, we want to be clear that there are some things upon which we have been able to agree with the Government, but others where we do not, such as the level of the furlough scheme.
"We must be clear that we have not yet reached an agreement on the wider economic support package that we require.
“The national furlough scheme is inadequate and risks pushing tens of thousands of low paid workers below the national minimum wage, while the direct support to businesses is also less than that offered during the national lockdown.
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“Yesterday the Metro Mayor spoke with the Prime Minister and this morning attended COBR where he again reiterated these concerns in the strongest terms.
“We have been assured by government that they will continue to engage in meaningful talks with us on these matters in the coming days and we intend to hold them to that promise.
"In the meantime, we are looking at what economic support can be provided locally, while we await further national government support.”
