BORIS Johnson claimed it is “very difficult” to ask “freedom-loving” Britons to uniformly follow the rules, as he blamed some members of the public for the increased spread of Covid-19.

The Prime Minister also told MPs the spread of the disease “does tend to happen later at night after more alcohol has been consumed” after he announced a tightening of restrictions, including a 10pm curfew on pubs and restaurants.

His remarks came during a lengthy Commons grilling from MPs, who expressed support and concern over the new measures.

Asked by Conservative former minister Greg Clark about the criteria for lifting the restrictions, including the six-person limit on social gatherings, Johnson said: “Of course we must look at what the data tells us and above all … there are several important data, but the R is perhaps the crucial one, but we also look at rates of admissions to hospitals and new infections.

“And if those facts change, if things turn around and if the British public can do what they did before and get this virus down and get it under control, then of course we will review the measures and review the situation.”

He also insisted testing alone “cannot fix this problem”, explaining: “The problem we have in the spread of this virus is that, alas, a minority of people have not been following the guidance in the way they might have done and what we’re trying to do now is get everybody to focus on those rules, on that guidance, to enforce it strictly and to get the R down.”

WATCH: Boris Johnson dismisses coronavirus furlough plea to save 61,000 Scottish jobs

Labour former minister Ben Bradshaw later asked: “Does he think that the reason Germany and Italy have far lower Covid rates than us, with life continuing more-or-less normally, might be because they have locally and publicly-run test and trace services that actually work?”

Johnson replied: “No I don’t, and I think the continual attacks on local test and trace and what the NHS Test and Trace have done are undermining and unnecessary.

“And actually, there is an important difference between our country and many other countries around the world, and that is our country is a freedom-loving country.

“And if you look at the history of this country over the last 300 years, virtually every advance from free speech to democracy has come from this country and it is very difficult to ask the British population uniformly to obey … guidelines in a way that it is necessary.

“What we’re saying today is that collectively, and I’m answering his question directly, collectively, the way to do this, the way to do this, is for us all to follow the guidelines, which we will strictly enforce, and get the ‘R’ down – that is the way forward.”

Meg Hillier, Labour chairwoman of the Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, asked why the 10pm closing time was being imposed on pubs and restaurants.

Johnson replied: “These are not easy decisions, nobody wants to be curtailing the right of restaurants and other businesses to go about their lawful business.

“What we have seen from the evidence is that alas the spread of the disease does tend to happen later at night after more alcohol has been consumed.

“This is one way that we see of driving down the R without doing excessive economic damage and that’s the balance we have to strike.”

Johnson also signalled there will be further financial support for the hospitality sector amid a push from Tory MP Jason McCartney to assist the wedding industry, small breweries, freelance musicians and more.

The Prime Minister said: “Clearly there will be further demands and I know the Chancellor will be applying his imagination and creativity to helping those sectors in the months ahead.

“But the best thing for them is to get back to life as close to normal as possible by getting this virus down and that is the point of the package of measures we’re announcing today.”