Coronavirus in Scotland: Keir Starmer joins mounting calls for rethink on Christmas covid restriction easing

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has demanded an urgent review of the relaxation of Covid rules over Christmas.

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.

Labour Party leader Keir Starmer. Jacob King/PA Wire

“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.”

The Labour leader wrote: “This is a critical moment for our country. The tiered system has not kept the virus under control and has left us with precious little headroom. Put simply, if you take the wrong decision now, the ramifications for our NHS and our economy in the new year could be severe.”

The statement follows a joint editorial published in the Health Service Journal and the British Medical Journal, warning that the four nations approach means the nation is ‘blundering' into a third wave of coronavirus cases.

The extraordinary intervention is only the second joint editorial in the hundred-year history of both publications.

The piece claims that a third wave in England could be 40 times higher than the second wave, which peaked in November with 14,712 inpatients being treated for Covid-19.

The editorial concluded:

“If our political leaders fail to take swift and decisive action, they can no longer claim to be ‘protecting the NHS.’”

In response to suggestions that the Christmas arrangements could be restricted to three days or two households, Downing Street again said the measures were being kept under “constant review”.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We have set out the guidance for the Christmas bubbling arrangements.

“But… we obviously keep all advice under constant review.”

Urgent talks are taking place between the leaders of the devolved administrations and Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove as calls mount to scrap plans for an easing of Covid-19 restrictions over Christmas.

However, Wales’ First Minister Mark Drakeford described the four nations approach to the festive period as a “hard-won agreement” and said he will “not lightly put it aside”.

The planned five-day “Christmas window” would allow three households to mingle between December 23-27.

The Scottish Government has been approached for their response to the calls.

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