Britain Will Loosen Coronavirus Restrictions for Christmas

Well, I’m very pleased that we’ve secured agreement with the first minister of Scotland, the first minister of Wales, and also the first minister and deputy first minister of Northern Ireland, to have a relaxation of the rules over Christmas. So for five days, from the 23rd to the 27th of December, people will be allowed to have a Christmas bubble. And that means that three households can get together so that families can enjoy something closer to a normal Christmas. Now we all know that Christmas this year won’t be as it has been in years past. But all the governments agreed that we should balance the need to protect public health with also allowing people to be with their loved ones. Well, all of the governments across the United Kingdom pooled their resources in order to ensure that we could have an appropriate approach. There were different ideas at the beginning of this process. But we very quickly reached a consensus. And I’m very grateful to Nicola Sturgeon to Mark Drakeford to Arlene Foster and to Michelle O’Neill for working together. I think this proves that across the United Kingdom, when you have something as important as making sure that people can travel and be with their families over Christmas, we’re better together. I’m afraid the misgivings happen either way. If we ask people just to stick to the strict rules we have now, I’m afraid lots of people will not be prepared to do that. So it’s not a choice between relaxation or no relaxation. It’s having a form of relaxation where there are rules that people will recognize but will allow people to enjoy Christmas but we’ll do it in a controlled way.