Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson has admitted that coronavirus was "out of control" in the city before the tier system came into place.
Mayor Anderson appeared on Good Morning Britain today to speak about the tier system returning when the national lockdown ends on December 2.
Host Susanna Reid asked the Mayor how losing his brother to coronavirus had affected his decisions around controlling the virus.
Mayor Anderson said: "It doesn't really, I've just tried to apply common sense to this virus.
"To those covid deniers I've said go and work as a nurse or a doctor or a care assistant and tell me this virus doesn't exist.
"I've not been a great fan of this government's response to the pandemic, but the tier system did work for us.
"Under the tier structure we went from 700 cases to 138, it demonstrates that it's working.
"Lockdown works better than tiers but if we have tiers we have to have them at incremental levels to address the pandemic where it's getting out of control.
"The virus was out of control in Liverpool but it's now back under control, that's because we've got mass testing and the tier three structure has worked for us."
Liverpool is set to go into Tier 2 from December 2 as cases continue to fall in the city and host Piers Morgan said: "You've come through a tough time, things have opened up in Liverpool how have the people been enjoying tier 2 announcement?"
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Mayor Anderson said: "We have been pragmatic and sensible. The people of this city are not stupid, they knew it was out of control that's why they got tested.
"Any reward we have now is because of the work of the people of this city working with us and public health officials to bring the virus down.
"I say a huge thank you to the people of Liverpool for helping us."
*GMB continues at 6am on ITV tomorrow
