Furious Tory MPs and hospitality bosses in Scotland and Wales today demanded Nicola Sturgeon and Mark Drakeford publish figures justifying their Covid crackdowns.
City centres in the principalities, including Northern Ireland, 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 revealed 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.
UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) bosses logged 129,471 positive tests in England and Wales in the last 24 hours, up 43 per cent on last week’s UK-wide figure of 90,629.
But the true scale of the Omicron-fuelled outbreak remains unclear because of statistical recording delays over the festive period.
It was the sixth time in a week confirmed cases breached the 100,000 mark, despite the shortages in accurate testing data because of Christmas and the bank holidays today and yesterday.
