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Cabinet ministers last night urged Boris Johnson to hold his nerve and resist tighter Covid restrictions this Christmas.
The Prime Minister yesterday warned the Cabinet that the new Omicron variant appears to be ‘more transmissible’ than previous strains and is spreading quickly across the UK.
Downing Street insisted that ministers had not discussed the introduction of so-called Plan B measures, such as working from home and vaccine passports. But one source said the ‘sobering’ briefing appeared to be designed to soften up ministers for the potential introduction of tougher curbs in the coming days.
Senior Tories last night warned the PM he would face a major backlash if he attempted to impose new restrictions to control the spread of a new variant which has yet to put a single person in the UK in hospital.
The Prime Minister (pictured) yesterday warned the Cabinet that the new Omicron variant appears to be ‘more transmissible’ than previous strains and is spreading quickly across the UK
One Cabinet source urged Mr Johnson to stick to his guns and resist calls from Government scientists to impose restrictions before the possible threat from Omicron is even known.
Another backed ex-PM Theresa May, who said on Monday that Britain could not afford to respond to every new variant by ‘stopping and starting sectors of our economy’. The minister said: ‘Theresa was right… We have to learn to live with it. We cannot run the country solely in order to manage demand for the NHS.’
Sir Iain Duncan Smith said the Government had to ‘hold our nerve’ and trust in the protection of the vaccination programme.
Former Cabinet minister David Davis said: ‘As far as I can see, Omicron appears to be a very infectious but less virulent variant.’
Downing Street has said Mr Johnson will update MPs next week on whether Covid restrictions will need to be tightened. But a Whitehall source said a decision could even come this
