Will Christmas bubbles be cancelled? Rules under review as experts issue warning about Xmas Covid rules

Leading scientists have warned that the loosening of covid rules in the lead up to Christmas could "cost many lives".

The Health Service Journal and British Medical Journal both described the lifting of restrictions as “rash”, saying that the public might see the rules "as permission to drop their guard".

It is expected that the warning will be followed by a sterner warning about the dangers of mixing with others over the Christmas period.

London mayor Sadiq Khan and Sir Keir Starmer also expressed concern about the five-day “Christmas window” which would allow three households to mingle between December 23-27.The raft of warnings has many fearing that plans to allow families to socialise this Christmas could be cancelled.

Talks between devolved nations and the UK government – represented by Michael Gove – are ongoing, with it widely expected that the rules will remain in place.

What has Sir Keir Starmer said?

Sir Keir urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson to call an emergency meeting of the Government’s top level Cobra committee to review the situation.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, he said: “It has become increasingly clear over recent days that the tier system you introduced two weeks ago has failed to control transmission of Covid-19. Sadly, it does now appear that the Government has – once again – lost control of infections, putting our economy and our NHS at grave risk in the new year.”

Sir Keir added: “I understand that people want to spend time with their families after this awful year, but the situation has clearly taken a turn for the worse since the decision about Christmas was taken. It serves no-one for politicians to ignore this fact.

“It is my view that you should now convene Cobra in the next 24 hours to review whether the current relaxation is appropriate given the rising number of cases. If you conclude with Government scientists that we need to take tougher action to keep people safe over Christmas, then you will have my support.”

What did Sadiq Khan say?

Mr Khan told Sky News: “I heard the Government say yesterday they haven’t ruled out further changes, I would encourage the Government to look at their rules over Christmas.

“What I say to the Government is: I’m not sure you’ve got it right, in fact, I’m sure you haven’t got it right in relation to the relaxations over Christmas.”

The London mayor denied he was adopting a “Grinch” approach to Christmas.

He added: “You’re not being Grinch at all. I think what you’re doing is following the science.

“And actually what we’ve seen across the Europe, and across the world, is those countries that are more effective at dealing with this virus having shorter more restrictive measures that help health and wealth.

“So look at Germany and the Netherlands; they’re not for relaxing the rules over Christmas allowing three households to mix with unlimited numbers.”

What did the journals say?

In a rare joint editorial, the British Medical Journal and Health Service Journal called for the “rash” decision to relax social distancing measures over the festive period to be scrapped.

They said that the Government “is about to blunder into another major error that will cost many lives”.

The joint editorial warning, authored by HSJ editor Alastair McLellan and BMJ editor-in-chief Fiona Godlee said: “When Government devised the current plans to allow household mixing over Christmas it had assumed the Covid-19 demand on the NHS would be decreasing.

“But it is not, it is rising, and the emergence of a new strain of the virus has introduced further potential jeopardy.

“Members of the public can and should mitigate the impact of the third wave by being as careful as possible over the next few months. But many will see the lifting of restrictions over Christmas as permission to drop their guard.

“The Government was too slow to introduce restrictions in the spring and again in the autumn.

“It should now reverse its rash decision to allow household mixing and instead extend the tiers over the five-day Christmas period in order to bring numbers down in the advance of a likely third wave.”

Will Christmas bubbles be cancelled?

Despite the raft of warnings, the UK government has not indicated any desire to reverse the Christmas bubble policy.

It is, however, widely expected that sterner warnings will be issued about the need to stick to the Christmas bubble rules.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Stephen Barclay said “all things were kept under review” as he urged people to show restraint at Christmas.

Mr Barclay said people need to “do the minimum” if they visit family over Christmas.

There have been calls within the Conservative party for a rethink on Christmas plans.

Wimbledon MP Stephen Hammond told Newsnight that he believed there would be a "rethinking" over whether it would be appropriate to loosen restrictions over Christmas.