after this is bbc news. the headlines at six: millions of people in england and wales are told to stay at home on the first day of tough, new coronavirus restrictions, as action is taken on a new variant of the virus. the new variant is out of control and we need to bring it under control, and this news about the new variant has been an incredibly difficult end to, frankly, an awful year. the health secretary labels crowded scenes at london stations last night as ‘irresponsible' — the transport secretary says extra police officers will be deployed to enforce the rules. the republic of ireland is to restrict air and sea travel with britain from midnight — and the netherlands, italy and belgium and germany ban flights between the uk, as concern grows over the new coronavirus variant.

long waits for some shoppers, as only essential retail can be open in england's tier 4 and in wales. it's my son's first christmas and he won't be able to see his grandparents. it's just ruined, really. we're going to try and make the best out of it. as much as possible, eat, celebrate. and who will take this trophy — and become the 2020 bbc‘s sports personality of the year? good evening. the health secretary, matt hancock, says the new mutant variant of coronavirus is out of control, as new restrictions enter into force for millions of people in parts of england and in wales. all previous tier 3 areas

in the south east and east of england — including london, kent and most of essex — have moved into a new tier 4. the public is being asked to stay at home, and non—essential shops have closed, along with gyms, beauty salons and hairdressers. there will be no ‘christmas bubbles' and household mixing is restricted to meeting one person in an open public space. christmas rules have changed in the rest of england, where the planned bubbles can now gather only on christmas day. all of wales has gone into lockdown with restrictions easing only for christmas day. that will also be the case in scotland and will be followed by the highest level of restrictions for mainland scotland from boxing day. all travel to the rest of the uk is banned for the festive season. northern ireland had already announced a new lockdown, coming in from the 26th of december. ourfirst report is from our political correspondent nick eardley. what a difference a day can make.

london's oxford street, normally one of the busiest for shopping europe, deserted today as part of england entered a new lockdown and millions more faced up to a significantly scaled back christmas. people like michaela mccann who works as an occupational therapist in surrey and now can't get home to northern ireland. everybody had made their plans and itjust seems like it is just a bit too late, it is just really difficult to accept. and i feel like myself, my resilience has sort of depleted through the year. i think this was just one final kick. the government said it was forced to act because of a new variant of the virus that is thought to spread much quicker. the new variant is out of control and we need to bring it under control. and this news about the new variant has been an incredibly difficult end to, frankly, an awful year. wales entered lockdown again at midnight and scotland and northern ireland, new restrictions are coming just

after christmas there. a new tier 4 restrictions in london, the south east and east of england, people are being urged to stay at home. we don't know how long these measures are going to be in place. it may be for some time until we can get the vaccine going. that isn't an easy thing to say. it all feels very different to when state when the -- to wednesday, when the four nations agreed... there would still be a relaxation of the law for christmas. but ministers here say they were given new evidence on friday about how the new variant of the virus spreads and that they had to act quickly. others think they were too slow. how could the government allow people to go on as they were? labour's leader this morning said the prime minister had waited until the 11th hour because he was reluctant to make an unpopular decision. england, scotland and labour run wales all

took pretty drastic action yesterday after being briefed by the experts, so what makes you think in terms of this new variant that the government should have acted sooner? to put all of this on the new variant is wrong. the infection was out of control and that is why the government, the prime minister should have grasped this instead of flippantly on wednesday simply saying, have a merry little christmas. it was obvious the indicators were all in the wrong direction. the government says that is wrong and when the data changed at their approach had two as well. but for many, the last couple of days have been a heartbreaking end to what has already been a uniquely difficult year. nick eardley, bbc news. what does the prime minister's party make of these tier 4 restrictions? well i've been getting the reaction of tory mp sir david amess to the latest changes. the area i represent, we have gone from tieri to tier numeric form, and it was a complete shock. all this happened since parliament rose

on thursday, and i'm still waiting to hear the indicators locally, but i understand that hospital admissions are increasing and infections are rising dramatically, but it's just so desperately disappointing, given that on wednesday it seemed an absolute certainty that we would all be able to celebrate christmas over a five—day period. to celebrate christmas over a five-day period. i've just been looking at the figures for your area, and basildon, a 20 minute drive away from your constituency, has the highest rate of coronavirus now in england. yes, this is a very worrying trend. the last thing we wa nt worrying trend. the last thing we want is for anyone to become unwell asa want is for anyone to become unwell as a result of this mutating of the virus. so, yes, we have to be very, very careful. it seems as if the

tier structure isn't working exactly as we want it to, and i want eve ryo ne as we want it to, and i want everyone to be careful as they possibly can and continue to observe washing their hands, wearing facemasks where appropriate, and socially distancing. it is the shortness of the notification of this that has been absolutely devastating for local constituents. the prime ministerjust a few days ago was saying it would be inhumane to cancel christmas. now, 18 million people are under tier 4. do you think you didn't have an inkling about how this was going to spread? 0ne about how this was going to spread? one would have thought that the data is being fed in all the time, and i'm not at the heart of number 10 downing street. it's one reason why frankly i would have preferred parliament to be recalled. we could meet virtually if that's the only

way, so we could put these questions directly. but of course, the decision has already been made, and i think it was unfortunate that the impression was given on wednesday that it was unlikely that there would be any further changes, so i do share the desperate disappointment of constituents, not being able to enjoy the festive period, if only for a very short while. how did your constituents think this has been handled by the government? well, i've been a member of parliament for a long while, and by and large, people are very kind to me, but there are some who are very angry about the situation, and who else can they express their anger to other than the local member of parliament? which is why, frankly, it would be nice if we could have been involved at a much earlier stage. now, if could have been involved at a much earlierstage. now, if it could have been involved at a much earlier stage. now, if it is the

case that this information was presented to the government dramatically, without any warning, then i suppose there was no other way that it could have been dealt with, but it was just the fact that on wednesday the idea that we would have been cancelling this, itjust wasn't on the agenda, and i think thatis wasn't on the agenda, and i think that is why people are so desperately disappointed, and it's not only the businesses, it's the fa ct not only the businesses, it's the fact that people had made preparations with the food there we re preparations with the food there were going to have, the people they we re were going to have, the people they were going to have, the people they were going to have, the people they were going to meet, and now all that has been ruined. and i do feel especially sorry for those people who were going to perhaps socially distance, meet older members of theirfamily. distance, meet older members of their family. do you think the prime minister was wrong—footed by circular star on this one? -- circular star on this one? -- circular starmer. there must have been real alarm bells ringing.

presumably, the advisers and the scientists said that the government, look, you've got to do something or you're look, you've got to do something or you' re really look, you've got to do something or you're really going to have an impossible situation to manage, but i think it's a shame that on wednesday perhaps we didn't give the impression in such a certain way that the christmas celebrations would go ahead as planned. so how has the coronavirus mutated and what do we know about how infectious this new variant is? here's our health correspondent catherine burns. since the pandemic started, we've learnt a lot about coronavirus, but it's been learning about us too. it's had practice at dealing with our immune systems and has developed an extra way of fighting us — this new variant. it's changed 23 times. many differences are linked to the all—important spike protein — the part of the virus that lets it bind onto human cells.

so, the worry is that this mutation could make it easier for the virus to infect us. doctors think this new variant could spread up to 70% faster, although that figure is just an estimate. scientists advising the government also say it could increase the r number, which shows how the virus can spread, by between 0.4 and 0.9. when we find the virus, we're finding the virus in the nose and throat. the higher amount of virus means that people are likely to be more infectious than they would otherwise be, and this means that we need to reiterate the social—distancing measures, keep your distance, reduce your contacts. one key question is, will vaccines still work against this? well, the vaccine trains our immune systems to recognise and react to the spike protein in the virus, and it has changed. but we're talking about tweaks, rather than huge differences. it's early days, but scientists think the vaccines are now, more than ever, the key to getting

this under control. there's no evidence to say this variant will cause more severe illness in any one person, but it's thought that somewhere between one in 100 and one in 150 people who have coronavirus end up dying from it. this variant is more infectious, so more people could get it, which could lead to more deaths — and, of course, more pressure on the nhs. we're already in a situation where we're seeing ambulances queueing for hours outside of hospitals, others are cancelling routine surgery, and on top of that comes this new variant, how worried are you? we're 11,000 beds fewer than we were last year because of infection control. and of the remaining beds, 16,000 of them are occupied by covid patients. that's 2,000 more than eight days ago. so, what chief executives are saying to us is, it's going to be a nail—biting week to ten days for them whilst they see whether these new measures will have the desired impact. until enough of us have been vaccinated, the best way to stop

this virus spreading is to stick to social distancing, wear our masks, wash our hands, and to cut contact with other people. catherine burns, bbc news. breaking news out of france in the past few moments. france is to suspend human handled freight transport from britain for 48 hours from 11pm. that is according to the french prime minister post my office in the last few minutes. france joining other countries, suspending passenger and human handled freight transport from britain for 48 hours. the latest government figures show there were 35,928 new coronavirus infections recorded in the latest

24—hour period, which means an average number of 27, 249 new cases per day in the last week. there were 1,821 people admitted to hospital on average each day in the week to last wednesday. 326 deaths have been reported for the last 2a hours — that's people who died within 28 days of a positive covid—19 test. it means an average of a62 deaths per day in the past week. the total number of uk deaths is now 67,1101. the tougher tier 4 restrictions in england have meant all non—essential shops having to close. today people have been heading to supermarkets to do their remaining christmas shopping, as our business correspondent katy austin has been finding out. after hearing that his gift shop in north london would have to close, owner ian started a click and collect service over night, trying to salvage something from what should have been his busiest week of the year. 0ur christmas stock, obviously, will have to go in a

sale. there is nothing else we can do with it. we plan christmas from january onwards, so this is a culmination of ten months of work. beauty salons and hairdressers say being forced to shut under the new, tighter restrictions was particularly ugly news. if we could have just limped through to the new year, then we would have understood the lockdown, but you know, the last, crucial week of the year, to be closed, it'sjust wrenching. i will not lie. there were tears and tears from clients and staff. when that announcement was made yesterday. you know, just, we've lost that last, crucial week, and we needed it. even for businesses who do online delivery, the closure of some stores follows a festive season already beset by problems beyond their control. we've also had a knock—on effect of the ports being absolutely jammed up. we've got several borders being closed across europe, you know, trying to bring orders in early because of the

concerns around brexit, extra documentation, and this has of course meant that some orders have not got through, and it is a dire time. in tiers 1 to 3, all stores can still open, and supermarkets can still welcome customers in tier 4. today, people outside one in south—east london said they had already changed their christmas plans. well, we'll get a much smaller turkey. we'll still have presents. because i thought i was going up there, i haven't got any food, so i've just come out to try and get some sort of christmas dinner together. it's my son's first christmas, and he won't be able to see his grandparents. you just have to work around it, isuppose. it shouldn't stop. christmas shouldn't stop. the shutters have now come down at major shopping destinations like oxford street here in central london, and they'll stay down through the traditional boxing day sales period as well. it's a painful end to the year for thousands of businesses who were desperately hoping for some festive cheer. katy austin, bbc news.

the headlines on bbc news: millions of people in england and wales are told to stay at home on the first day of tough, new coronavirus restrictions as action is taken on a new variant of the virus. the health secretary labels crowded scenes at london stations last night as ‘irresponsible' — the transport secretary says extra police officers will be deployed to enforce the rules the republic of ireland is to restrict air and sea travel with britain from midnight — and the netherlands, italy and belgium and germany ban flights between the uk — as concern grows over the new coronavirus variant. the new restrictions and the changes to the rules for christmas in england, wales and scotland have thrown many people's travel plans into disarray, and the new variant has led to many countries bringing in restrictions for the uk. the dutch were first to limit british arrivals, banning passenger flights. germany, belgium, italy, ireland, bulgaria and austria are putting

in place similar measures. and greece is introducing a longer seven—day quarantine period for those coming from britain. in the past few minutes, france has suspended passenger and human handled freight for 48 hours. here's our transport correspondent caroline davies. today at euston station, with suitcases packed, passengers rushing for a train from london to manchester, despite the fact rules against leaving tier 4 came on my site. —— came in last night. other than for legally permitted reasons. the operator said the service was socially distanced and below capacity. some passengers at euston were desperate to leave. i am terrified that i am going to spend christmas alone so i am going to go. 0thers coming back to london had mixed feelings. i don't understand, i don't know if i am going to get to my mother's for christmas, which is tier 4 and i live alone so i could say they are my support bubble, i don't know. london train stations that operate

longer distance routes like king's cross and euston say this weekend has been noticeably busier than normal pandemic weekend but is still relatively quiet. train operators are keen to point out it is not the job of their staff to enforce these rules, that is for the police, but how heavy—handed will they be? british transport police have said there will be more officers at major transport hubs and offices will only use enforcement if absolutely necessary. in scotland, police have said they will double their presence in the borders area and that it was not appropriate for offices to establish checkpoints or roadblocks. others are worried many will have left already for christmas. the health secretary today reacted to these pictures of cues last night for a train from london to leeds. those scenes were totally irresponsible. and as of first thing this morning, the new law came in. i actually was up before five o'clock this morning ensuring that new law has been in place. and we have all got a responsibility.

international travel is banned from tier 4 and other tiers are advised to carefully consider whether it is needed, but the netherlands, belgium, italy and ireland have decided to temporarily suspend flights from britain with concerns about spreading the virus. those in the travel industry are worried more countries will follow suit. caroline davies, bbc news. it looks as if there might be a europe wide response. this in from the european council. an official has confirmed there have been conversations today between the european council president and representatives of member states to discuss the latest developments on the uk strain and the travel restrictions in response to it. an exchange of information on proposed restrictions member states are planning to implement in the coming hours. tomorrow morning, a european council meeting of government

representatives to discuss a coordinated response. amid extra restrictions imposed across the country this christmas, for many terminally or chronically ill children and their families, the festive season will be even more difficult. unable to do their usual hospital visits to sick children, this year the charity spread a smile have moved their christmas grotto experience entirely online. earlier, i spoke to donna hillyer, whose son was born with kidney failure, and has been helped by the charity, but i started by speaking to lucy jackson — who's the chief executive of the charity — and asked her what her organisation does and how it works. we entertain children in hospital who are really seriously ill. we have face painters and therapy dogs that we take to hospital for regular visits. back in march, we had to stop all of that, stop our face—to—face visits, and now we are

doing everything online, everything virtually, and it is so important for us to do that at the moment, because these children are more isolated than ever before, so we think it is so important to keep spreading smiles to them. 0rdinarily, when there are physical visits, this is hugely important, isn't it, for children's morale, and can even help them recover more quickly in terms of the boost it gives? exactly. we found that our visits help to reduce a child's anxiety, can enhance their well—being, and you are skinny children who have sat hour by hour ad they are child's bedside and they will tell you the enormous impact that visit from one of our entertainers can have. the children are sitting up, laughing, smiling, chatty, and that is perhaps something that parents thought they wouldn't see in their child. it is quite incredible. happy christmas to you all. thanks forjoining us on

bbc news. i think austin has seen for the christmas virtually, is that right? yes, it is. and how was it? good. before coronavirus, he went to the north pole. and the north pole is allowing for christmas to go and pick up presence, so there are no travel restrictions for him, which is great. tim, tell me more about austen's last year or so, because he has been really rather ill, hasn't he? that's right. we had a really challenging year this year, but spread a smile charity has been great for us. since july, they've helped in a variety of ways, but

primarily staying connected as a family. donna and austin were at great gorman is read four weeks while i was at home, not able to visit because of travel restrictions, and they have helped the kids in their emotional recovery, and austin after the transplant, putting on events, arts and crafts, magician shows, and most importantly meeting father christmas oi'i importantly meeting father christmas on friday, which has helped austin and annabel dealing with a really challenging year. annabel, you are austin's twin, aren't you? what have you seen? what did you like best? the entertainment, what kind did you like? i like the best the arts and crafts one, and the fairies. yes, the singing fairies. 0k, and what was the arts and crafts one you liked? the arts and crafts one, like

the halloween one. white make it sound really good. lucy, you were just employing the same people you would have used before who have gone into hospitals physically, so you have managed to retain people and haven't had to lay them off or follow them ? haven't had to lay them off or follow them? presumably they are freelancers. exactly. they are freelancers. exactly. they are freelancers. we have the most wonderful team whom we train thoroughly to go in and deliver these visits, so it has been really great all round. they have been able to continue entertaining these children in hospital, and what is really amazing is that they have a short time to make an impact on these kids, but actually, the impact is felt at that moment and then beyond as well. the children have something to talk about, something to be excited about. as you were just hearing from austin and annabel, it is notjust about the

child that is unwell but about bringing in the whole family, which isa bringing in the whole family, which is a really special thing. donna, you were in isolation with austin — what has it meant for you?” you were in isolation with austin — what has it meant for you? i think spread a smile has had a huge impact for us, notjust austin spread a smile has had a huge impact for us, not just austin and spread a smile has had a huge impact for us, notjust austin and his recovery, but for us as a family. austin was supposed to have his transplant in april, but it actually was cancelled. it was one of the la st was cancelled. it was one of the last one is cancelled before a lockdown came into place, so by the time his transplant actually came around, the entire family were already very exhausted, so to have them come on board at that time really helped us collectively, also just in terms of entertaining a child who is struggling through i’e cove i’y child who is struggling through recovery in one child who is struggling through i’ecovei’y in one i’ooiti child who is struggling through recovery in one room with no help from family or friends is challenging, and just having something light—hearted was really

great. another thing to mention is, i think the emotional recovery for austin after the transplant was far, significantly, his emotional i’e cove i’y wa s significantly, his emotional i'e cove tv was far significantly, his emotional i’ecovei’y was far greater, significantly, his emotional recovery was far greater, i would say, then his physical recovery, so spread a smile, like being 0n say, then his physical recovery, so spread a smile, like being on board and working through his various stages of emotional needs was just fantastic. and the entertainers, they are all specially trained, so when he was finding it really difficult to engage, just because of the inevitable kind of trauma after such a big operation, theyjust were able to really work around those challenges get the most from him, and it's been amazing to watch him blossom over the past five months. he'sjust recently blossom over the past five months. he's just recently returned to school for the first time since march, so it's been a really, really long period of time where he has

been cut off from his friends. and the charity's involvement has had a huge impact, ithink, socially, getting him ready for that return, and it's been brilliant to see him getting on so well, and certainly the grotto experience was fantastic. we normally have a very full december of christmas related things, like so many families, and we things, like so many families, and we tend to go to ireland to visit family there. obviously, that's all out this year, so it was amazing, just having their virtual experience and some normality for the kids. sounds great. the final thoughts — austin and annabel, in a few words, how excited are you about christmas day? really, really excited. annabel? let's hope father christmas brings just annabel? let's hope father christmas bringsjust a annabel? let's hope father christmas brings just a few things that you have asked him for. the hillier

family and lucy jackson. have asked him for. the hillier family and luchackson. time to catch up on the weather with chris. hello there. well, today it has been another day of sunshine and showers. the showers have been pretty widespread. you can see the speckled shower clouds here on the satellite picture. but just to our west, we have got a rather bigger area of cloud. this is the next area of low pressure. that's going to be bringing some fairly strong winds and cloud and rain as well. overnight tonight, showers for northern ireland and scotland. it will turn quite blustery here for a time. the winds pick up later in the night further south as cloud and rain spreads in. the rain associated with increasingly mild air. so by the end of the night, plymouth seeing a temperature of about 11 degrees and nine in cardiff. tomorrow, well, rain to start the day for england and wales. the rain pushes eastwards with time. could bring some localised surface water flooding, gradually turning a bit brighter later on. showers could merge together to give some lengthier outbreaks of rain further north, particularly in western scotland. a very mild day for parts of england and wales.

temperatures reaching as high as 15 degrees towards london and south—east england, but turning colder across the north. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines... millions of people in england and wales are told to stay at home on the first day of tough new coronavirus restrictions as action is taken on a new variant of the virus. the variant is out of control and we need to bring under control, and this news about the new variant has been an incredibly difficult end to, frankly, an awful year. the health secretary labels crowded scenes at london stations last night as ‘irresponsible'. the transport secretary says extra police officers will be deployed to enforce the rules. the republic of ireland is to restrict air and sea travel with britain from midnight, and the netherlands,