“Lichfield and Burntwood and the rest of the country have had a torrid year” Prime Minister told
At Prime Minister’s Questions today, Michael Fabricant told Prime Minister Boris Johnson that it’s been a “torrid year” and now says “Last minute panic changes to the Christmas rules would not be helpful to families planning for next week. I am pleased that the Government will issue safety guidance, but the laws will remain unchanged for the 5 days between the 23rd and 27th December.”
At Prime Minister’s Questions, Michael asked: “May I join the Prime Minister in those good wishes for Christmas, and may I add my own good wishes to you, Mr Speaker, and the Prime Minister, and hope that you both have a peaceful and a safe Christmas period.
“On the subject of Christmas, my constituents in Lichfield and Burntwood and the rest of the country have had a torrid year with the Covid pandemic. And we’ve got this very small break over Christmas, and people have to use common sense of course; don’t start hugging granny and don’t go wild over Christmas, and as the Prime Minister previously said, let’s be jolly careful over Christmas.
“But I want to say to the Prime Minister; it would not be helpful if some smarmy lawyer now at this late stage were to argue for a change in the laws. So can I ask my Right Honourable Friend here and now, who is neither smarmy nor a lawyer, is he now going to change the rules?”
Boris Johnson replied: “My Honourable Friend is absolutely right to stress the importance of people taking care this Christmas, because although some things are unquestionably going well, and I’m very pleased to tell the House that we have had a good start with the rollout of the vaccination programme, and in just seven days, 108,000 people in England, 138,000 across the whole of the UK, have received their first vaccination, we must remember that transmission takes place asymptomatically in so many cases – one in three people are currently asymptomatic with Covid.
“That is why my Honourable Friend is absolutely right that we should exercise extreme caution in the way we celebrate Christmas, we can celebrate it sensibly, but we have to be extremely cautious in the way we behave.”
Later, the Prime Minister confirmed he would not be changing the Christmas rules.