Revellers from Wales and Scotland plan to cross borders to England to celebrate this weekend

English regions bordering Scotland and Wales are bracing themselves for a New Year invasion after crackdowns on hospitality by Nicola Sturgeon and Mark Drakeford left England as the only country free to party.

City centres in Scotland and Wales were pictured desolate and lifeless last night amid the introduction of new Covid restrictions for pubs and clubs, which included the rule of six and social distancing for thousands of venues.

Meanwhile revellers let their hair down in England after Health Secretary Sajid Javid confirmed no new rules would be put in place before the end of the year.

As a result, people living in areas where venues have been shut down have taken to social media to share their plans to cross the border and enjoy a night out on the town in areas such as Bristol and Newcastle.

Pubs in such areas are already preparing for an influx of customers, with one venue admitting they are expecting coaches full of revellers to arrive on New Year’s Eve.

Meanwhile, locked-down businesses have been left furious by the new rules, particularly in Scotland, where many would have been banking on substantial sales around Hogmanay celebrations.

Donald MacLeod, owner of a number of nightspots in Glasgow, told the Scottish Sun: ‘The irony is clear — a world-famous Scottish tradition is banned and the hospitality sector is paralysed by a party that claims it sticks up for the people of Scotland.

‘I think a lot of people will go down south — but most will do the very thing we’re trying to avoid and gather together in houses and say to hell with the restrictions.

‘Scottish hospitality, retail, leisure and live music sectors have all been destroyed over the last three weeks. We really have been kicked in the knackers unnecessarily.’

In Wales there has also been frustration, Rich Watkin, director at pub Fat Boar, which has sites in Wrexham and Mold, said he too believed people will jump on buses to Chester while restrictions are in force.

‘What we need is an equal chance of surviving regardless of what side of the border we are on,’ he told the Daily Post. ‘After today’s announcement (in England) it’s not a level playing field.’

Jonathan Greatorex added: ‘Once again, the differences in rules between Wales and England has caused confusion for the customers of Welsh hospitality businesses. Boxing Day was, frankly, a nightmare with many customers simply having no idea that the rules had changed.

Their woes were echoed by University of Brighton virologist Dr Sarah Pitt, who said it does not make sense for UK nations to have different Covid restrictions, and that she expected there would be a rush of revellers travelling to England instead.

Hospitality bosses in England were celebrating, however, although British Chambers of Commerce president Baroness McGregor-Smith said the sector needed further support.

‘I am delighted to see that we are protecting New Year’s Eve but it just won’t go far enough,’ she told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

‘We have called for looking at focused support on furlough and also looking to increase grants as well, also making sure that the emergency rate of VAT continues beyond March as does the business rates relief again to continue beyond March.

‘We don’t have flexibility on any loan repayments yet and for many businesses which took out loans, which they did do last year – many, many have got more debt than they ever had before – they are now in a position where they are going to have to pay that back, and I think the Treasury needs to look very carefully at the repayment schemes for many loans across the UK.’

Andy Wood, chief executive of Adnams brewery, said there had been a 50% drop in visitors to pubs and hotels after the chief medical officer for England, Professor Chris Whitty, urged people to be cautious about socialising.

‘More than half of Christmas has been lost. This is a sector that has the economic equivalent of long Covid. There is going to need to be support for the sector through the darks months of January, February and March.’

The Prime Minister held crunch talks with chief advisors Professor Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance over the spread of Covid variant Omicron on Monday but is not expected to be seen again in public before the end of the year after deciding to keep England’s hospitality sector running.

Boris Johnson confirmed he will rely on guidance to limit socialising over the New Year, rather than legally binding rules.

He said: ‘We will continue to monitor the data carefully, but there will be no new restrictions introduced in England before the New Year. However, I would urge everyone to continue to act cautiously given the rising number of Omicron cases.

‘Most importantly I urge everyone to get their first, second or booster jab without delay to protect yourselves and your loved ones.’

It came as Professor Sir John Bell, regius professor of medicine at Oxford University, said he backed the Government’s decision not to impose new Covid restrictions in England before the new year.

Sir John said the public had been ‘pretty responsible’ in its response to the spread of the Omicron variant.

‘The health minister has taken advice and looked at the data. I think his judgment where we should go in the next few days is probably fine,’ he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

‘There are a lot of people who are aware that we are in the face of this large wave of disease. The behaviour of people in the UK, in England in particular, has been pretty responsible in terms of trying not to go out and spending a lot of time exposing yourself to the virus.

‘You look at the people on the streets, the roads are quiet, all that stuff. I think that’s likely to continue for the next week as we see how this thing evolves.’

Sir John said since the rollout of the vaccination programme there had been no increase the incidence of severe illness and death from the disease.

‘The horrific scenes that we saw a year ago – intensive care units being full, lots of people dying prematurely – that is now history in my view and I think we should reassured that that’s likely to continue,’ he said.

While there is relief among business that New Year’s Eve celebrations will be able to go ahead in England, some scientists have expressed concern about the lack of new restrictions following the surge in Covid cases.

Environment Secretary George Eustice said that, while ministers continued to monitor the data closely, the early evidence suggested Omicron was not leading to a big increase in hospital admissions, as happened in previous waves.

‘There is early encouragement from what we know in South Africa, that you have fewer hospitalisations and that the number of days that they stay in hospital, if they do go into hospital, is also lower than in previous variants,’ he told Today.

‘At the moment we don’t think that the evidence supports any more interventions beyond what we have done.

‘But obviously we have got to keep it under very close review, because if it is the case that we started to see a big increase in hospitalisations then we would need to act further.’

While hospital numbers are up, NHS Providers chief executive Chris Hopson said staff absences could pose a bigger challenge to the health service than patients needing treatment for Covid.

He told BBC Breakfast: ‘We’re now seeing a significant increase in the level of staff absences, and quite a few of our chief executives are saying that they think that that’s probably going to be a bigger problem and a bigger challenge for them than necessarily the number of people coming in who need treatment because of Covid.

‘So what we’re seeing is in some hospitals, we’re now having to redeploy staff to fill the gaps that are being left in critical and essential services by staff who are off with Covid-related absences.’

On social media, one wrote: ‘I’ll probably go to Bristol to go out clubbing considering night clubs are closed in Wales. Genuinely the government between England, Scotland and Wales need to be working together because it’s become points scoring and who can do better.

Another said: ‘Regrettably just cancelled our restaurant and hotel bookings for 12 in Cardiff and rebooked for Bristol for NYE.’

A third added:  ‘Well, Bristol, Liverpool and Newcastle will do well on NYE. Any English city on the border of Wales and Scotland will be a magnet for NYE revellers. There is no scientific basis for restrictions in Wales and Scotland.’

Official coronavirus statistics appeared to justify No10’s reluctance to resort to economically-crippling curbs, with the number of cases recorded in England having fallen every day since Christmas.

The number of people in hospital with Covid in England is less than half the same time last year – despite cases being three times higher.

And confirmed infections were up just 7 per cent in a week to 98,515 but the figures were for England only, and did not represent Britain’s situation as a whole.

Scotland’s cases, meanwhile, spiralled to record highs during the festive break, but the tallies won’t be included in the UK-wide update until Wednesday, at the same time as Northern Ireland. Wales’ tolls for over Christmas are set to be logged officially tomorrow.

First Ministers Nicola Sturgeon and Mark Drakeford were also today accused of ‘jumping the gun’ and ‘devastating the hospitality industry’ by bringing in tougher restrictions.

And on the first day of the new rules on Bank Holiday Monday, traditionally busy streets in Cardiff, Swansea, Edinburgh and Glasgow were pictured arid and glum.

In England, conversely, alcohol-fuelled crowds in London and Leeds remained in the festive spirit – braving the wet weather on Bank Holiday Monday to make the most of looser hospitality restrictions.

In Scotland, up to three households can meet, with one-metre distancing between groups at indoor and outdoor venues such as bars, restaurants, theatres, cinemas and gyms.

Table service is required at places where alcohol is served, and nightclubs are now shut for at least three weeks.

In Wales, a maximum of six people are allowed to meet in pubs, cinemas and restaurants and social distancing is back while only 30 people will be allowed at indoor events with this being increased to 50 if it is outdoors

Northern Ireland has also restricted socialising to three households, while up to six people can meet in pubs, bars and restaurants.

Nightclubs will be closed on New Year’s Eve and dancing will be prohibited in hospitality venues, although this will not apply to weddings.

Residents, though, reacted with fury at having plans to celebrate the New Year scuppered as Mr Johnson gave the green light to England on Monday.

Eileen Queen branded the decision an ‘utter disgrace’.

She tweeted: ‘An utter disgrace that sturgeon has all of us having 3 weeks of this. 500 football fans a game, hospitality hit dreadfully, and all the rest.

‘England doing nothing on advice, and heeding it. sturgeon enjoys all this control of us, never detested a politician so much in my life.’

Another resident said: ‘So Boris has wrong-footed Sturgeon because he followed the science and she followed her own flawed nationalist political agenda.

‘She has single-handedly devastated the Scottish hospitality industry and ruined the country’s New Year festivities’

A third person tweeted: ‘Drakeford and Sturgeon jumped the gun. They should fund the damage they have done to Welsh and Scottish businesses.

‘They cannot look to the UK to fund their unnecessary authoritarian behaviour.’

Ms Sturgeon was also met with uproar earlier this week after refusing to reduce the current requirement to self-isolate for ten days – avoiding bringing it in line with England’s approach, where it has now been cut to seven with two lateral flow negative tests on days six and seven.

One nightclub owner in Glasgow described the Scottish National Party as ‘Grinches’, while Twitter users posted memes of Mr Drakeford and Ms Sturgeon’s faces over posters of the 2000 movie How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Yesterday’s much-anticipated Covid statistics gave a breakdown of the situation on Christmas Day and Boxing Day in the UK, when no figures were publicly released.

On Christmas Day, 113,628 positive tests were recorded in England.

A further 108,893 were logged on Boxing Day – 103,558 in England and 5,335 in Wales.

Equivalent figures for Scotland and Northern Ireland are expected to trickle through into the Government’s own system over the coming days.

Separate hospitalisation figures for England showed there were 1,281 Covid admissions on December 25.

This was up 74 per cent week-on-week and the highest number since February 16.

During the second wave of coronavirus, admissions peaked at over 4,100 on January 12.

As revellers in England celebrated on Monday, though, Health Secretary Sajid Javid continued to dangle the threat of tightening restrictions in 2022 to bring England in line with the rest of the home nations, urging revellers to ‘remain cautious’.

Following the release of the daily Covid statistics, Mr Javid told broadcasters: ‘We look at the data on a daily basis – that hasn’t changed over the Christmas period.

‘But there will be no further measures before the new year. Of course, people should remain cautious as we approach New Year’s celebrations.

‘Take a lateral flow test if that makes sense, celebrate outside if you can, have some ventilation if you can.

‘Please remain cautious and when we get into the new year, of course, we will see then whether we do need to take any further measures, but nothing more until then, at least.’

Mr Johnson received praise within his own party for deciding against following the rest of the UK into fresh Covid rules.

Tory backbencher Brendan Clarke-Smith, who was one of the Tories who rebelled to vote against Plan B restrictions before Christmas, said: ‘This is great news and will be welcomed by everybody wanting to get on with their lives and to be able to enjoy the New Year.

‘Not such great news for scaremongerers, Covid socialists and mask sellers. Now let’s hope there’s no need for any more restrictions again afterwards.’

Possible restrictions considered by the PM for England over the past few days included closing pubs and restaurants indoors, bringing back the rule of six or restricting the number of households meeting indoors, and limiting capacity at mass events.

But beleaguered hospitality bosses have welcomed the decision to opt against their introduction, providing much needed respite following a Christmas period which was dogged by cancellations due to fears over Omicron.

New Year’s Eve is ON as Boris holds his nerve: Sajid Javid rules out any new Covid restrictions this week after hospital admissions hit highest level since February but failed to break key lockdown threshold in London and cases rise by just 7% to 98,515 

By Stephen Matthews Health Editor and Chay Quin and David Wilcock, Whitehall Correspondent for MailOnline

England’s New Year’s Eve celebrations were today given the green light after weeks of being hung in the balance as Boris Johnson held his nerve in the face of grim Omicron warnings from his own advisers and avoided bringing in tough new restrictions.

The Prime Minister wants to rely on guidance urging people to limit socialising, rather than impose legally binding curbs like Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland woke up to today.

Mr Johnson held crunch talks with his chief advisers Professor Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance today, which raised fears that No10 would unveil fresh restrictions in time for the last social hurrah of the year. But he has so far refused to cave into demands for tougher action.

Confirming England would be going it alone in its decision to hold fire on hitting the panic button, Sajid Javid declared: ‘There will be no further measures before the New Year.’ He told Sky News: ‘It’s for each country that makes up the UK to decide how it wants to go forward.’

But the Health Secretary still dangled the threat of tightening restrictions in 2022 to bring England in line with the rest of the home nations, urging revellers to ‘remain cautious’.

Official coronavirus statistics appeared to justify No10’s reluctance to resort to economically-crippling curbs, with the number of cases recorded in England having fallen every day since Christmas.

Today’s confirmed infections were up just 7 per cent in a week to 98,515 but the figures were for England only, and did not represent Britain’s situation as a whole.

Scotland’s cases spiralled to record highs during the festive break but the tallies won’t be included in the UK-wide update until Wednesday, at the same time as Northern Ireland. Wales’ tolls for over Christmas are set to be logged officially tomorrow.

However, other data laid bare the threat the NHS faces from Omicron in the New Year. Covid hospital admissions in England hit the highest level since February on Christmas Day, with 1,281 coronavirus-infected patients placed on wards, up 74 per cent in a week.

But the same grisly data, which reflects how the ultra-infectious variant has triggered spiralling infection rates all across the country, also shows daily hospitalisation figures in Omicron-hotspot London are still below the crucial figure thought to be No10’s trigger point for imposing fresh England-wide restrictions. Promising official data also suggests that London’s outbreak is flattening off.

Meanwhile, deaths have more than trebled with 143 logged today compared to 44 last Monday. But this was down to a recording lag, which saw no fatalities registered on Christmas Day and just three on Boxing Day.

Full legal curbs would require Parliament to be recalled, which can be done within 48 hours, and would trigger already furious Tory backbenchers and cause serious problems for the hospitality industry.

But Mr Johnson was praised from within his own party for holding firm today, with Conservative MPs saying the data didn’t support acting even tougher. Andrew Bridgen called the steps taken in Scotland and Wales an ‘over-reaction’.

It came as: 

• Tensions boiled over as tighter coronavirus restrictions were introduced in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland today as the nation’s leaders try to halt the spread of the Omicron variant;
• ‘Professor Lockdown’ Neil Ferguson described how he had become ‘something of a marmite figure’ as he admitted he ‘made mistakes’ and ‘oversimplified things’ during the pandemic;
• Entire year groups of school students could be sent home by headteachers if the Omicron variant leads to staffing crises when schools return next month, union bosses warned;
• Beijing has ordered roads, buildings and open spaces to be disinfected in the Chinese city of Xian as it upgraded lockdown restrictions to their ‘strictest level’.

Following the release of the daily Covid statistics, Mr Javid told broadcasters: ‘We look at the data on a daily basis – that hasn’t changed over the Christmas period.

‘But there will be no further measures before the new year. Of course, people should remain cautious as we approach New Year’s celebrations.

‘Take a lateral flow test if that makes sense, celebrate outside if you can, have some ventilation if you can.

‘Please remain cautious and when we get into the new year, of course, we will see then whether we do need to take any further measures, but nothing more until then, at least.’

Tory backbencher Brendan Clarke-Smith, who was one of the Tories who rebelled to vote against Plan B restrictions before Christmas, praised the Government’s move.

He said: ‘This is great news and will be welcomed by everybody wanting to get on with their lives and to be able to enjoy the New Year.

‘Not such great news for scaremongerers, Covid socialists and mask sellers.

‘Now let’s hope there’s no need for any more restrictions again afterwards.’

Today’s much-anticipated Covid statistics also gave a breakdown of the situation on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, when no figures were publicly released.

On Christmas Day, 113,628 positive tests were recorded in England.

A further 108,893 were logged on Boxing Day – 103,558 in England and 5,335 in Wales.

Equivalent figures for Scotland and Northern Ireland are expected to trickle through into the Government’s own system over the coming days.

Separate hospitalisation figures for England showed there were 1,281 Covid admissions on December 25.

This was up 74 per cent week-on-week and the highest number since February 16.

During the second wave of coronavirus, admissions peaked at over 4,100 on January 12.

In London, 364 admissions were reported on Christmas Day, up 73 per cent week-on-week. But it was still below the 390 admissions reported on December 23.

It was also below the 400-a-day figure that Government advisers have estimated could be used as a trigger point for bringing in national restrictions.

Admissions during the second wave peaked in London at 977 on January 6.

Possible restrictions considered by the PM for England over the past few days included closing pubs and restaurants indoors, bringing back the rule of six or restricting the number of households meeting indoors, and limiting capacity at mass events.

Last night the beleaguered hospitality industry urged Mr Johnson to hold firm amid hopeful signs that Omicron is not as dangerous as previous variants.

Pub and restaurant owners have cautiously welcomed the Government’s announcement that no new restrictions will be implemented before New Year’s Eve.

The move gives beleaguered hospitality venues respite after a Christmas period which was dogged by cancellations due to fears over the Omicron variant of Covid.

Daniel Farrow, owner of the Gatherers bar and restaurant in Norwich, said that his business has seen 60% of bookings cancelled in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Mr Farrow, 26, said: ‘It’s really good news, that really helps people.

‘But you know, having a good New Year’s will just be one good day out of a whole month that should have been us trading at full capacity. In reality, we traded at 20%.

Meanwhile, from today Scottish nightclubs will be shuttered and hospitality businesses will need to return to offering only table service if serving alcohol.

Bars, restaurants and indoor leisure facilities such as gyms, theatres and museums will also have to reinstate one-metre social distancing regulations.

The restrictions come after caps were placed on large events from Sunday.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced last week that just 100 people would be able to attend a standing indoor event and 200 seated.

Outdoor events will also be restricted to 500 – a rule which has hit football games hardest.

Scotland’s national clinical director Jason Leach appeared to criticise Mr Johnson’s approach this morning, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘This virus has never reached well to delay, it has never reacted to soft, slow responses, it has always reacted best to hard, fast responses.’