BORIS Johnson is considering calls to lift “rule of six” restrictions in England on Christmas Day, it has been reported.

The one-day-only reprieve is said to be backed by UK Government ministers to allow families to gather as normal.

The Prime Minister is pondering the “sweetner” to avoid “being portrayed as Scrooge”, a Downing Street insider told the Sun.

As it stands, people in England face £100 on-the-spot fines if they are caught meeting in a group of more than six people indoors, with repeat offenders potentially being charged a maximum of £3200.

Those rules were expected to remain in place until at least the beginning of December, with further restrictions now anticipated amid a surge in cases.

But a Number 10 source told the Sun on Sunday: “The PM is anxious to avoid being portrayed as Scrooge.

“He’s fully aware that millions of people are making big sacrifices to defeat this virus and is considering ways to allow them to experience the joy of Christmas for at last part of the holiday season.”

READ MORE: Boris Johnson 'spent long weekend in Italy' as UK was mired in crisis

The report came as it was alleged Johnson had spent a long weekend in Italy as the coronavirus and Brexit crises intensified.

According to Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Perugia airport and local sources have confirmed the Prime Minister was in the city from Friday September 11 to Monday 14.

He was apparently in the region to baptise his son Wilfred in a home owned by Evgeny Lebedev, the Russian-British businessman whom the Tory leader nominated for a peerage last month.

However, a No 10 spokesman commented: "This story is completely untrue. The Prime Minister has not travelled to Italy in recent months. Anyone who publishes these claims is repeating a falsehood."