Over the last few weeks, after the exposure of the alleged Downing Street Christmas parties, the government has been under immense pressure to address the rise of Covid cases.
Although so far there are no plans set in place, the rumoured ‘Plan B’ which first emerged months ago seems more and more inevitable with cases in the UK rising quickly.
‘Plan B’ currently consists of Covid passes for certain events, mandatory face masks on public transport and shops, and people being urged to work from home.
Published by the Mirror, a potential ‘step two’ is being debated by the Prime Minister banning social gatherings indoors and foreign holidays and higher education being made remote.
This rule would mean the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam would close its doors on students for a second time and move to online teaching, potentially affecting another year of results, but this has not yet been disclosed by the government.
The biggest known issue for the government, however, is getting the public on side due to the anger felt after the latest revelations exposed, and the failure to take responsibility by Johnson.
The latest total number of daily confirmed cases is at 91,743, however due to the COVID vaccinations, the number of hospitalisations are not as prominent.
This does not mean that the severity is not significant and has led to opposing parties criticising the PM and the cabinet.
The Shadow Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, accused Mr Johnson of having “absolutely nothing new to say, no plan whatsoever”.
He also added: “Boris Johnson is paralysed by weakness because of fear of his own backbenchers… no-one wants to bite the bullet and level with the public this side of Christmas.”
There is a continuous mention of Johnson’s “refusal to rule out” extra restrictions, however nothing has been written within law. So far, the current government guidelines of ‘hands, face space’ is the policy being urged to the public.