this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. millions in england and wales are told to stay at home, as tough new coronavirus restrictions come into force. we do not know how long these measures will be in place. it may be for some time, until we can get the vaccine going. last night's announcement prompted a rush to london's stations — footage on social media shows large crowds trying to board trains. the transport secretary says extra police officers will be deployed to enforce the rules. similar restrictions will follow in scotland — swathes of the country will be placed under the toughest restrictions from boxing day. the netherlands bans passenger flights from the uk, as it detects its first case of the new covid variant surging

through southern england. a uk government source says there will be no post—brexit trade deal between the uk and eu unless there is a "substantial shift" from brussels in the coming days. hello and welcome, if you're watching in the uk or around the world, and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. millions of people in england and wales are now in tougher lockdown restrictions. at midnight, london and large parts of the east and south east of england were put into a new category of tier 4 — with an order to stay at home where possible. similar restrictions came into force for all of wales at midnight.

plans to relax restrictions over the christmas holiday have now been abandoned for those in the new tier, who can no longer spend any of the festive period with people outside their household. the labour party have accused prime minister boris johnson of being indecisive. nick eardley reports. london last night, as some made a last—minute journey before lockdown started. but there won't be the usual christmas getaway this year. significant restrictions are now in place in large parts of england and in the whole of wales. and they are coming in scotland. and for millions, christmas visits will be considerably shortened or cancelled altogether. for lesley nelson, who has terminal cancer, that means she won't be able to spend time with her sister. literally, i just sat in my chair in floods of tears. and messaging my family, you know, what are we going to do? itjust seems so unfair.

for somebody like me, i'm terminally ill, i won't be here next christmas. people may think, 0k, that's all right. we'll celebrate christmas in the summer. i don't know if i'm going to be here in the summer. my sister is going to be sitting at home by herself 100 miles away, and her presents are under the tree. 70 million people in england are back in lockdown. in london, the east and south east of england, people are being urged to stay at home. non—essential shops are closed, plans to allow christmas bubbles have been cancelled. in the rest of england, in scotland and in wales, christmas has been cut back significantly. instead of meeting for five days, christmas bubbles will only be allowed for one — christmas day itself. it is with a very heavy heart, i must tell you we cannot continue with christmas as planned.

in england, those living in tier 4 areas should not mix with anyone outside their own household at christmas. though support bubbles will remain in place for those at particular risk of loneliness and isolation. in wales, lockdown was brought forward and came in at midnight. nicola sturgeon has said nobody should travel to scotland from the rest of the uk, and that she will be bring in a lockdown on the mainland from boxing day. it makes you want to cry, as am sure many of you listening want to cry, because i know how harsh this sounds. i know how unfair it is, but this virus is unfair. the changes will come as a blow to many. the end of this tough year is going to be no easier, but politicians and scientists believe the risk is just too great. nick eardley, bbc news, westminster. millions affected. let's talk to gaynor, who lives in leicestershire and had family coming up from london for christmas. obviously these plans

have now changed. thank you forjoining us and tells what christmas will be like compared to what you were hoping for. what christmas will be like compared to what you were hoping fonm what christmas will be like compared to what you were hoping for. it will be completely different. my family we re be completely different. my family were coming for christmas, everything has been arranged, food court, we were so looking forward to seeing them, we have not seen them for months, and then, in the blink ofan, for months, and then, in the blink of an, everything has changed. what has annoyed me, i understand that there is a need for safety, it is there is a need for safety, it is the timing. had he said at the beginning of december that everyone had to buckle down and we won't see anybody, and then hopefully you can get together at christmas, we all would have understood stop to say literally three days ago, it is fine, you will get together and let people make plans. people on their own and are looking forward to seeing family at christmas, and yesterday to say it is all

cancelled, i tried to get to cancel beat food, but websites are saying it is too late to change it. i am trying to cancel food and my daughter—in—law strang to buy food, because she did not have anything in. -- is trying to buy food. what will you do with the food?” in. -- is trying to buy food. what will you do with the food? i will see if the local food shelter wanted. two of us will never get through the amount of fresh food we have ordered. it is so annoying. people have gone to restaurants and have been able to mix with others through december, and yet i feel he has let people spend money, and now that has been done, the has been pulled under, is all. i can see your christmas decorations, and you have the presence infield grandchildren. what will you do with those? i have sackfuls of presents for my family and my five—year—old granddaughter particular, who last year helped me

lay the table and did the christmas stockings. we have spoken all week about what we will do and how do explain to a five—year—old? her situation at school is strange for her, and now to be told she cannot see us her, and now to be told she cannot see us and christmas will be com pletely see us and christmas will be completely different. my son only found out yesterday after they got back from the park, and then had to dash to the shops to get a turkey and fresh food in. will have to leave you i'm afraid, but thank you. we will now hear from sir keir starmer. just days to go, millions of families are having to tell children and once, that their plans for christmas cannot go ahead. —— and loved ones. i know how devastating that is. i know hurt people are feeling and the anger.

christmas is more thanjust people are feeling and the anger. christmas is more than just a holiday. it is part of who we are as a nation. sadly, the measures the government announced yesterday are necessary and we will support them. but there is no getting away from the fact. and what angers people and frustrates me the most is that yet again the prime minister waited until the 11th hour to take this decision. it was blatantly obvious last week, but to be prime minister's plan for a free throw over christmas was a risk to far. —— free for all. rather than listening to concerns and taking them seriously, the prime minister did what he always does, dismissed the challenge, ruffled his hair and made a flippant comment. the prime minister's claim that this is all

down to a new form of the virus that is only just down to a new form of the virus that is onlyjust emerging, it does not stand up to scrutiny. on monday last week, the health secretary told the house of commons about the new strain of the virus. on tuesday, medical professionals warned that the lifting of restrictions over christmas would be, in their words, a major error. and i called for a review. on wednesday, i challenged the prime minister to toughen up the restrictions. we have known about rising infections and the nhs reaching capacity in many parts of the country for weeks. the new strain was actually first spotted backin strain was actually first spotted back in september. the alarm bells have been ringing for weeks. but the prime minister chose to ignore them. a virus of this sort demands early action, decisive action, a clear

plan and a clear message. yet we have had none of those. the prime minister delayed, he told the country to go ahead and have a merry little christmas. he told people in london and the south—east to carry on shopping and to make plans to see families. and yet, three days later, he tells millions of families to rip up he tells millions of families to rip up those plans. he introduces further restrictions. what i want to know this morning, and what everyone across the country wants to this morning, is how on earth did this happen? how could the government allow people to go on as they were when they knew they had lost control of the virus? it is an act of gross negligence by a prime minister who once again has been caught behind the curve, who once again offered confusion, not clarity, who

undermined public confidence, who a lwa ys undermined public confidence, who always promises and under delivers. he is now asking the british people to pay the price for his incompetence. no one expects the government to get it right all the time, but one that fails to learn from its mistakes ends up making the same mistakes over and over again. month after month. week after week. we have a prime minister who is so scared of being unpopular that he is incapable of taking tough decisions until it is too late. whether that was going into the lockdown in the first place, extending the furlough scheme, bringing in a second break in october to protect the economy, and now christmas. it is this indecision and weak leadership that is costing lives and costing jobs.

asa is costing lives and costing jobs. as a result, the uk ends 2020 with one of the highest death tolls in europe, the deepest recession in any major economy, with the virus once again out of control and with christmas cancelled for millions. my message to the prime minister is simple. we cannot go on like this. we cannot start next year as we have ended this year. our country needs you to show political leadership. there can be no more differ, no more delay, no more fearing bad headlines, no more wishful thinking, no more empty promises. prime minister, you need to get the virus back under control so we can get our economy going and get our children back into school injanuary. the british people have done everything asked of them. our nhs, and social

ca re asked of them. our nhs, and social care workers, have done everything asked of them and more. our key workers, police officers, firefighters, supermarket workers and posters, they have at us going. our businesses have stepped up and communities have pulled together. now all of them, the british people, expect their government to deliver. 2021 can be the year of recovery, but only if the government gets it right. that is why i renew my offer today to work with you and the government to get this right, to secure our economy by supporting businesses in the toughest restrictions. to protect our nhs by ensuring it has got the staff and resources to ca re for ensuring it has got the staff and resources to care for people throughout the winter months. and to rebuild our country by guaranteeing the swift and safe roll—out of the vaccine. these are the priorities of the british people. they are labour

priorities and they are my priorities. finally, to everyone who has had to cancel plans, to all of you that have increasingly familiar feeling you have been let down or abandoned, who cannot cnn to the gloom and the bad news —— cannot see an end, orare gloom and the bad news —— cannot see an end, or are having to spend christmas alone. i am sorry. but do not lose faith, this winter will pass and this pandemic will end, and when it does, we will be reunited with alan up once and with the places and things we miss. —— with our loved ones. we will build a better country together. thank you. i will now take questions from the media. good morning. you have said

alarm bells should have been ringing for weeks, but england, alarm bells should have been ringing forweeks, but england, scotland alarm bells should have been ringing for weeks, but england, scotland and labour run wales all took pretty drastic action yesterday after being briefed by the experts. what makes you think in terms of this new variant that the government should have acted sooner with and if i may, do you agree with the health secretary the new variant is out of control and restrictions may have to be in place potentially until the vaccine is rolled out? the new variant was spotted in september and to put all this on a new variant is wrong. the figures in the last few weeks have all been going the wrong directions. one of the points i put to the prime minister 2pm queues on wednesday is in some parts of the country, infection rates have gone up country, infection rates have gone up 70%. —— to the prime minister at finest as questions. the infection was out of control and that is why the prime minister should have done

something instead of flippantly saying had a merry christmas. it was obvious the indicators were in the wrong direction. i think we are going to robert preston of atv. -- itv. you are either on mute we cannot hear you. the new variant is more infectious among young people than the old strain and is also ten to 15% of it in the midlands and north. you say the prime minister has to get ahead of the game, should he be saying now that schools should go to promote learning injanuary to curb the spread —— remote learning, and should he be talking now about putting midlands and north into tier 4?ido putting midlands and north into tier 4? i do not think the prime minister should be delaying schools come back

any more than they are already delayed. we need a plan for schools to come back safely, and that involves massive testing. the prime minister has offered mass testing and now has to deliver on it. we do not want that delay. i think the prime minister said yesterday that these restrictions or be reviewed in two weeks. they will. but i think it isa two weeks. they will. but i think it is a false promise to pretend these restrictions will change or be lifted in two weeks, because i do not think they are. thank you, robert. nick is next from sky. good morning. i want to pick up on the first question. the health secretary told us here on sky news that he believes those in tier 4 would have to saying there's restrictions until a vaccine is rolled out. is that of uu support, that people watching this in tier4

uu support, that people watching this in tier 4 should have to stay on as restrictions until a vaccine is rolled out, and what would labour's plan b? we need to look at the scientific evidence, but one of the scientific evidence, but one of the reasons we are in this position is because alongside the rising infection rates, we have had gaps in our defences, so we have had mixed m essa 9 es our defences, so we have had mixed messages from the government, frankly, go back to where, do not go back to work. stay at home, do not stay at home. eat out, do not eat out, have a merry little christmas and don't have a christmas. mixed messages. we have also had a lack of support for those who need to self—isolate. only a small portion of those who should be artful. we have challenged government on this so many times to put a package in place to allow those who need to to self—isolate and to support those businesses. track and trace has to work better. whatever the answer, need to control the infection and also need to fill those gaps in our

defences as we go forward. we are going to be mirrored now, and pepper. hello, morning. following on from that, there is now 16.4 million people in tier 4. there has been suggestions that that could continue for months until the vaccine is rolled out. what specific extra support do you think workers, businesses and those who are self isolating need in order to get through that period? and do you think that suggestions from the government that it is the police's job to get people off trains is appropriate in terms of use of police time and also whether there should be a more soft approach taking into account a whole array of circumstances that people face? on self isolating, i think there are two things. the first is that the

track and trace part of the system needs to work so that those who need to self—isolate can be contacted. it has got better in recent weeks. the second is that although there is a package in place for those that need to self—isolate, £500 for two weeks, only one in eight workers qualifies. a parent that needs to self—isolate because a child has symptoms does not get the payment. unless that is in place, it is hard to get people to self—isolate. as for businesses, one of the biggest problems is that businesses that had been in tiers restrictions for months and months and months in the north—west places like leicester, businesses and communities have been in restrictions and some sincejune and july restrictions and some sincejune and july of last year, the one size fits all support is not good enough. the government has to look again at the planning put in place to help businesses through this so every time the health restrictions, johanne in hand with the economic

restrictions. on people getting onto trains, i would say to follow the government advice and rules. i understand that people are angry and frustrated, they are panicking about their christmas plans, but it is important they follow the rules the government has put in place if we are to get through this. i think those pictures only speak to the anxiety of what is out there across the country as we have had this 11 hour decision. thank you. that is sir keir starmer giving his views on boris johnson's announcement yesterday, saying that the alarm bells had been ringing for weeks, but the prime minister chose to ignore them. he said the prime minister had once again been caught behind curb. —— curve. let us tell you that in terms of flights from the uk, we know the netherlands have banned passenger flights from the uk, will talk more about that in a

moment. we are now also hearing because of the new variant of coronavirus, the german government is looking at restricting uk flights asa is looking at restricting uk flights as a serious option. there is also report on another news agency that belgium is also considering a flight and train ban from britain from midnight on sunday, after the uk detected that coronavirus variant suspected to be more infectious than other variants. the prime minister of belgium has said that that man on flights and train arrivals from the uk will be in place for at least a day, midnight on sunday. that is after boris johnson's announcement ofa after boris johnson's announcement of a higher tier restriction in london and part of the south—east of england. as we were saying, the netherlands has already stopped

flights from the uk because of the new variant. here is an update from the hague. the decision by the dutch government has made almost immediately after the british prime minister revealed the rapid rise of cases in and around london was due to this mutant strain of the virus. the new variant is thought to spread more quickly and also be harder to detect. it is not thought to be more deadly. the dutch government said that sampling here had also revealed that one case of this new variant, so they are now investigating who that individual is and how they became infected and whether there are in other individual cases beyond that one. they haven't ruled out additional travel bans that would affect ferries and trains between the two countries. they are also talking about potentially restricting travel between the uk even further due to the rapid rate of infection coming from this mutant

strain of the virus. this is a scene in central london, euston station, and last night of course we saw those scenes where people come after borisjohnson's announcement, when making a mad dash for the stations, trying to get out of london, and to get to different parts of the country before christmas. some pretty chaotic crowds, it seems, at a london stations. rather different this morning. the transport secretary... the transport secretary... the transport secretary, grant shapps, has tweeted this morning saying, "it's vital to follow the new guidance to protect others & our nhs. if you're in tier 4 you must not travel or stay away from home overnight." he also sdsays that extra british transport police officers will be on hand at stations to enforce the rules.

the announcements prompted a rush to london train stations and by 7pm on saturday, there were no tickets available online from several london stations including paddington, kings cross and euston. this footage posted on social media showed large crowds at st pancras station. police in scotland say they will not be setting up roadblocks to enforce a christmas travel ban announced yesterday by nicola sturgeon. the first minister said a ban on travel to the rest of the uk will apply over the festive period. mainland scotland is to be put into lockdown from boxing day for at least three weeks. in the us, warehouse workers are packing the newly—approved moderna vaccine, ready for it to be sent to thousands of sites. general gus perna, who's leading operation warp speed for the us government, said trucks would start

to roll out on sunday. it would supply additional unemployment payments to those who lost jobs unemployment payments to those who lostjobs due to pandemic and would help local and state governments. your watching bbc news. in the us, warehouse workers are packing the newly—approved moderna vaccine, ready for it to be sent to thousands of sites. general gus perna, who's leading operation warp speed for the us government, said trucks would start to roll out on sunday. he said shipments would begin to reach health care providers as soon as monday. but he's had to apologise to state governors, saying he'd made an error estimating the number of doses cleared for shipment. this week, many have heard concerns about allegations of vaccine doses being cut. i want to assure everybody, and i want to take personal responsibility for the miscommunication. i know that's not done much these days, but i am responsible.

and i take responsibility for the miscommunication. a uk government source says there will be no post—brexit trade deal between the uk and eu unless there is a "substantial shift" from brussels in the coming days. the two sides have been in negotiations about how many years it will take to phase in new fisheries arrangements. but an eu source said this was not the only remaining issue left to resolve. the uk's brexit transition period is due to end on 31st december. now it's time for a look at the weather with matt taylor. hello. big billowing clouds for some of you once again, which could threaten the odd hefty, maybe thundery downpours at times. but, like yesterday, there will be some sunshine around too.

and for those of you in eastern parts of scotland and eastern england, there could be very few showers through the day. so some of you will stay if not largely dry, even completely dry. showers will be most frequent close to southernmost counties of england and in the west. this is where weather will be the heaviest. but i suspect there will be even bigger gaps between the showers during the afternoon on what will be breezy day. this shows the wind gusts. strong as winds head towards the west of scotland. 40 or maybe 50 mph gusts. that will make it feel rather cooler, at around seven or 8 degrees, by and large, temperatures down a degree on what we saw yesterday. and to this evening and overnight, showers will fade for a time away from western scotland, northern ireland. clear skies, temperatures dip down to 23 degrees. lifting a little bit later, particularly in the south, and it is here where more persistent rain moves its way in. not great news, ground so saturated,

river levels high at the moment, keep up with the latest flood warnings on the bbc weather website. but notice here is where the mildest weather will be. wrapped in around this area of low pressure. and the strongest winds to the south and east of that. we will still be stuck in some cool conditions here, denoted by the blue colours. they come to be trying to fight their way back as that area of low pressure pushes its way eastwards, bringing early rain across parts of england and wales. some will be heavy at times, ten dry through the afternoon. in northern ireland, and eventually across some southern eastern parts of scotland, frequent in western scotland throughout, wintry over the higher ground, because here is where the coldest air will be. six or 7 degrees, compared to maybe 13 or 15 across

the southernmost counties. as we go into monday evening, could be some clear skies. that north—south split there for tuesday, with more rain across southern counties. more wet weather with this area low pressure the further south you are as we go into wednesday. but, as you can see in dundee, it stays dry here. and by thursday, christmas eve, most places become dry again, most places feel much colder as well. that will lead into a chilly night to take it into christmas morning with a widespread frost, particularly across finland and wales stop there will be a few showers dotted around first light across the east. there will be some rain later in the highlands and islands of scotland, but for most, it will not be a white christmas apart from the white frost in the morning, but it could be a fairly sunny one. hello this is bbc news. the headlines. millions in england and wales are told to stay at home, as tough new coronavirus restrictions come into force similar restrictions will follow in scotland — swathes of the country will be placed under the toughest restrictions from boxing day last night's tier 4 announcement prompted a rush to london's stations — footage on social media shows large crowds trying to board trains — the transport secretary says extra