Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, has been chairing a meeting with leaders from the devolved administrations to discuss whether to change the special Covid rules agreed for Christmas. According to ITV Cymru’s Adrian Masters, another meeting is planned for tomorrow.
And ITV’s Paul Brand says no decision has yet been taken.
PA Media also report talks are expected to resume on Wednesday. A Welsh government spokesman said: “The leaders of the devolved administrations and Michael Gove met this evening to discuss the arrangements over the Christmas period. They will reconvene tomorrow to confirm the position.” The meeting was scheduled as the UK government came under increasing pressure to tighten the rules for the holiday period. Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, said Boris Johnson should order a rethink because taking the wrong decision now could have “severe” consequences. (See 1pm.) Two leading medical journals, the British Medical Journal and the Health Service Journal, said allowing up to three household to mix over Christmas, as planned, would be a “major error that will cost many lives”. (See 10.45am.) Before this afternoon’s meeting chaired by Gove, Downing Street said the rules were being kept under constant review. Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, told MSPs that her government was considering whether the proposed rules should be tightened in the light of the emergence of a new variant of coronavirus, nine cases of which have been discovered in Scotland. (See 3.06pm.) But Mark Drakeford, the Welsh first minister, told MSs (members of the Senedd, the Welsh parliament) that he was concerned that not allowing an easing of restrictions at Christmas could lead to a “free-for-all”. (See 2.28pm.) A YouGov poll suggests people think the government should abandon plans to relax the restrictions over Christmas by almost two to one. (See 5.30pm.) The London borough of Greenwich has been forced to back down over plans to close its schools early and switch to online learning following legal action by the government, which later revealed plans for mass testing in secondary schools across England from January. Fresh festive food worth millions of pounds – including whole turkeys, lobsters and truffles – could be heading for the bin as restaurants and bars in London and parts of the south-east move into tier 3 coronavirus restrictions from midnight. Pre-existing social inequalities contributed to the UK recording the highest death rates from Covid in Europe, a leading authority on public health has said, warning that many children’s lives would be permanently blighted if the problem is not tackled. The Bank of England has written to UK bank bosses telling them to review their exposure to losses that could emerge from businesses hardest-hit by Covid-19, as part of efforts to head off potential risks to the financial system. Boris Johnson wasted thousands of pounds of public money by ignoring formal advice to pay off a special adviser who was escorted out of Downing Street following a clash with Dominic Cummings. Dominic Cummings was handed a pay rise of at least £40,000 for his role as the prime minister’s top adviser, new figures suggest. The economic recovery from the Covid-driven recession will be hampered by a post-Brexit shortage of key workers including nursing assistants, senior care workers and dental nurses, the UK government’s migration advisers have warned. That’s all from me for today. But our coverage continues on our global coronavirus live blog. It’s here.