THE relaxation of strict Covid rules over Christmas will go ahead - despite dire warnings from public health experts. 

The four nations of the UK have agreed not to change the legal regulations, though there will be a toughening up of the language, with people urged not to travel and not to mix unless they absolutely have to.

Last month the governments in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast agreed a joint approach, allowing three households to form a bubble and mix between December 23 and 27.

But, with rising case numbers, and the discovery of a new strain of Covid, that decision has come under pressure. 

Senior Cabinet minister Michael Gove and leaders from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland held talks this morning to agree a new unanimous approach.

READ MORE: Linda Bauld warns of 'miserable' January unless Covid reprieve scrapped

The discussions come after Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said that it would be up to people to make a “personal judgment” whether they wanted to meet up with vulnerable family members over the holiday period.

He suggested that some people may decide to “keep it small” and put off larger gatherings until the spring, saying: “Easter can be the new Christmas.”

Yesterday, in their first joint editorial in 100 years, the BMJ and the Health Service Journal yesterday called the relaxation “a major error”. 

Their comments were raised during Prime Minister's Questions, with Labour leader Kier Starmer saying the Christmas reprieve would be Boris Johnson's "next big mistake".

He said: "The British British Medical Journal yesterday said this, 'we believe the government is about to blunder into another major error that will cost many lives'.

"The Prime Minister should listen to that advice, not just ignore it as usual. And if he really is going to press ahead with this, can he tell us what the assessment, and has it been done, of the impact that it will have on infection rates and increased pressure on the NHS?"

Johnson accused the Labour chief of trying to cancel Christmas. 

“I can tell him that as of today and just this morning, there is actually unanimous agreement across all the UK governments, across all the devolved administrations, including members of all parties, including his own, that we should proceed, in principle, with the existing regulations because we don't want to criminalise people's long made plans.”

He added: “We do think  it's absolutely vital that people should at this very, very tricky time, exercise a high degree of personal responsibility, especially when they come into contact with elderly people, avoid contact with elderly people  wherever possible, that is how by being sensible and cautious, not by imposing endless lockdowns or cancelling Christmas, as he would appear to want to do, that's the only implication I can draw from what he said, unless he wants to announce some other idea, that is the way we will continue to work together to keep this virus under control".

Earlier, Linda Bauld, professor of public health at the University of Edinburgh, said allowing households to mix over the holidays would lead to a “miserable" January and February.

Speaking on the BBC’s Today programme, Professor Bauld said it was a “no-win” situation for the governments.

“I think if they changed the guidance now there will be a loss of trust in government because this was a commitment to the British people that they could travel and have this reprieve over five days. On the other hand, if they don't change the guidance, or if they're not much clearer about the risks, we're in a really difficult situation.

“We actually got more people in hospital yesterday. We're almost up to the peak that we were at in mid April. Very close with over 20,000 people then and we're well over 18,000. 

"So, the situation is very worrying."

She agreed that it would be very difficult to tell people who have already booked tickets or organised travel to cancel. Instead, she said the governments should change the plan but promise not penalise people breaking the rules. 

“But if they were courageous they would just actually say look, if you can avoid, just change your plans, if you can,” she said.

“We're talking about preventable deaths here. It's not a trivial thing, and I know there are consequences for people being isolated as well, we've all talked about that, but you know we're going to make a much more miserable January and February I think that's the thing. Leaders need to be courageous.”

According to YouGov, 57% of people across the UK say the relaxation of rules should be dropped, with current rules maintained. Just 31% say the relaxation of rules at Christmas should go ahead.