How the Covid Winter Plan will work for Leeds and its effect on Tier 3 lockdown

Boris Johnson is expected to detail his plan for winter to MPs on Monday as he sets out how people can see their loved ones at Christmas.

What is the Covid winter plan and how will it affect Leeds?

The “Covid winter plan” is expected to place more areas into the higher tiers to keep the virus under control to ensure further restrictions are not needed, No 10 said.

The tiers are expected to be strengthened to safeguard the gains made during the national lockdown but it is understood that the controversial 10pm curfew on pubs and restaurants will be altered under the new system.

Leeds was expected to be placed back into Tier 3 - the strictest tier available - when the national lockdown ends. Leeds was due to go into Tier 3 when the national lockdown was announced, which over-rode the local system.

But Tier 3 will look a little different to before, and the restrictions on pubs and restaurants including the 10pm curfew could be altered.

The Prime Minister is expected to say that, while last orders must be called at 10pm, people will get an extra hour to finish their food and drinks with opening hours to be extended until 11pm.

Boris Johnson is due to set out details of the revised three-tier system of controls in a Commons statement on Monday.

As well as allowing non-essential retail to reopen in all three tiers, it is expected the Prime Minister will say gyms can welcome back customers while grass roots sports will also be able to resume.

Cinemas will be allowed to reopen in areas under Tier 1 and 2, and midnight mass and Christingle services will be permitted in all three tiers.

There will also be an easing of the 10pm curfew for pubs and restaurants with an extra hour’s drinking up time.

However, controls will remain, with those under the toughest Tier 3 measures expected only to be allowed to offer takeaways while those in Tier 2 will only be able to serve alcohol with food.

What about Christmas and Covid?

While he will set out how people will be able to spend their Christmas, ministers have made clear that the festive season will be different to normal, with some restrictions expected to remain in place.

Several households – potentially three – could be allowed to create a bubble temporarily between December 22 and 28, with the plans covering all four nations of the UK, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Restrictions on church services are also due to be lifted, allowing Christmas Day services to be held, the paper said.

But while plans have not yet been set out, ministers have made clear that the festive season will be different from normal.

Is there any opposition to the new plans?

But the Prime Minister will be wary of a rebellion from backbench Tory MPs who are opposed to new restrictions.

During a vote on the current four-week system earlier this month, 32 Conservatives rebelled to oppose the measures and 17 more, including former prime minister Theresa May, abstained.

Subsequently, the Covid Recovery Group (CRG) led by former chief whip Mark Harper and ex-Brexit minister Steve Baker has formed to resist new measures.

On Saturday the CRG warned that they “cannot support” a tiered approach unless the Government produces evidence to show measures “will save more lives than they cost”.

The warning against the measures inflicting “huge health and economic costs” came in a letter to the Prime Minister, which sources close to the group said had been signed by 70 Conservative MPs, though the group’s leaders were the only signatories identified.

Downing Street will hope an easing at Christmas, potential vaccines on the horizon and new scientific evidence will lessen the scale of a rebellion, with the Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) expected to publish papers on Monday stating that the previous tiers were not strong enough.

But the CRG letter said: “We cannot live under such a series of damaging lockdowns and apparently arbitrary restrictions, and expect our constituents to be grateful for being let out to enjoy the festive season, only to have strict restrictions imposed on them afterwards that cause them health problems and destroy their livelihood.”

The Government announced a further 341 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Saturday, bringing the UK total to 54,626.

Labour has so far been supportive of the need for restrictions to slow the spread of Covid-19, and a full-scale Commons defeat on the plan is unlikely.

But shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds, in a speech ahead of the Downing Street announcement, said the nation could not be allowed to return “to the shambles we had before this lockdown” in calling for “clarity” on economic support.

A Labour spokesman said “we will look closely at any proposals the Government brings forward” but called for “proper packages of support” for businesses that are unable to fully reopen.

“The previous system was failing – simply returning to it without other measures in place will not work,” he added.