Rishi Sunak has said that it is not going to be a normal Christmas this year.
Speaking to Sky News’ Sophy Ridge, the Chancellor said: “The Prime Minister will be setting out more details tomorrow about the next steps in our fight against coronavirus.
“I think the good news is we will be exiting national restrictions on December 2 as the Prime Minister said at the beginning of the month-long restrictions, we’ll be going back into a tiered system, which is a far better way to tackle this on a localised approach.
“With regard to Christmas, I think frustrating as it is for all of us, Christmas is not going to be normal this year, but, that said, the Prime Minister and everyone else, we’re looking at ways to see how families can spend some time with each other over (the) Christmas period.
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“Obviously that’s something that we would like to do and it’s been a difficult year for all of us, but as I said it’s not going to be a normal Christmas this year.”
Addressing suggestions that for every day restrictions are relaxed over Christmas, five days of tighter restrictions could be needed he added: “The deputy chief medical officer spoke about this just the other day and I think it’s difficult to be so precise and granular about the impact of any individual measure that we might take.
“That’s why I said it’s not going to be a normal Christmas this year. I think the good news is we’re going to be exiting national restrictions, which is something that I think people at the beginning of this were doubtful of and we said that was very much what we wanted to deliver, and we are going to deliver that.
“The Prime Minister will be setting out more details tomorrow about going back to a more localised approach, seeing what we can do to allow families to see each other at Christmas time.
“But it is not going to be normal.”
The Chancellor also outlined the need for the Government to “adapt and evolve” in its strategy to tackling Covid-19.
He said: “What we want to do is constantly adapt and evolve as we gain more information about the virus.
“Every week, every day that we go through this, we get more data, we can see what’s working, what’s the most effective way to tackle the spread of this while minimising the restrictions on people’s freedom.
“That’s what we will do. So, on the basis of the advice we get from our medical and scientific advisers, looking at everything in the round, see how we can fine-tune things, as I said, to make sure that what we’re doing is as effective as it can be.”
He added: “It’s a tragedy that three-quarters of a million people have already lost their jobs. That’s millions of families and people who are impacted by that, and it’s a difficult time for everyone.”
Professor Calum Semple also appeared on the show and stressed that Covid restrictions could be relaxed over Christmas if the tier system proves successful.
He said: “There’s every reason to believe that when lockdown is lifted many areas will be able to go into lower tiers, but some areas will remain in higher tiers.
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“Then you have this period in the run-up to Christmas and, hopefully, if the system works, we will be able to relax some regulations for a few days, but there’s always a price for that.”
When asked if every day of relaxation would require five days of tighter restrictions, he said: “Yeah, I think in the round it’s right but it shouldn’t be seen that it is going to be draconian restrictions, it’s just going to prolong restrictions and higher-level restriction for some areas.”
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