Javid says snog who you like under mistletoe

contradicting Coffey

Jessica Elgot www.theguardian.com 

Ministers have clashed repeatedly over advice on festivities and mistletoe, with Home Office staff being urged to limit numbers attending Christmas parties in the office and the health secretary contradicting a cabinet colleague to insist “people can snog who they wish”.

Amid concerns over the new Covid variant, Omicron, the government was accused of sending mixed messages about whether people should change their behaviour in the festive period despite no laws prohibiting social contact between healthy people.

Sajid Javid became the latest to weigh in, contradicting the work and pensions secretary Thérèse Coffey’s warning against kissing strangers under mistletoe.

“People can snog who they wish,” Javid told ITV News. “I’ll certainly be kissing my wife under the mistletoe – it’s a Javid family tradition. It’s got nothing to do with the government who you kiss or anything like that. But the only thing is just – there’s guidance already out there – just be cautious and enjoy yourselves.”

Coffey had said on Wednesday night that “we should all be trying to enjoy the Christmas ahead of us”, but “for what it’s worth, I don’t think there should be much snogging under the mistletoe”.

Meanwhile, guidance issued to civil servants in the Home Office on Wednesday, seen by the Guardian, said they could celebrate with colleagues, but urged people to “take sensible precautions”.

The advice said that for festive gatherings in the workplace, “numbers should be kept to a minimum”. It also stated: “Colleagues should refrain from undertaking irregular travel solely to attend a Christmas gathering.” It advised staff to “take steps to minimise contact, including the avoidance of sharing food and drink”.

An influential scientist also warned that he would not feel safe going to a Christmas party this year. Prof Peter Openshaw, a member of the Government’s New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), said the “chances of getting infected were too high” to have a party.

Earlier, George Freeman, the science minister, admitted that “given the new variant” his team had decided to “get together on Zoom and toast each other” virtually.

Freeman had told the BBC: “Individual businesses, in the end, have to make judgments on what is appropriate internally … For many small businesses, four or five staff, who are working together every day anyway, gathering to have a drink isn’t a big step up in risk.

“But some companies might normally bring hundreds of people in from around the world to a big party, and they may decide, this year, is that sensible, given the pandemic and given where we are?” Freeman was reprimanded by Boris Johnson, who insisted that “people shouldn’t be cancelling things; there’s no need for that”.

Pressed on whether Christmas parties and children’s nativity plays should be scrapped given Omicron’s spread in the UK, Johnson said: “That’s not what we’re saying.”

He stressed that the government was trying to respond in a “balanced and proportionate way” to the variant, and said Downing Street was holding events “the whole time”, citing the recent turning-on of the Christmas lights outside No 10. His spokesperson confirmed that several more gatherings would go ahead in Downing Street this Christmas.

It comes after Jenny Harries, who heads the UK Health Security Agency, suggested people should avoid unnecessary socialising in the run-up to Christmas. but was contradicted by No 10.

The issue of such advice for people to alter their behaviour running contrary to official guidance and new Covid rules has infuriated some, who believe it will hit businesses hoping for high levels of trade as Christmas approaches.

Johnson is also on tricky ground, after it emerged that he attended a leaving party in Downing Street last November, during the second lockdown. Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, wrote to the cabinet secretary, Simon Case, asking him to investigate that and another alleged gathering in No 10 last winter.

She said in her letter: “This government is undermining public health messaging with their actions and we cannot let this go on unchecked. It cannot be that the prime minister believes there to be a set of rules for the public and a totally different set of rules for himself.”

Layla Moran, a Liberal Democrat MP and chair of the parliamentary group on Covid, said: “Mixed messages and obfuscation is this government’s bread and butter when faced with hard decisions, and we can see this again in their completely confused statements on Christmas parties.

“The evidence is unequivocal: clear government messaging is extremely important in preventing infections and so the prime minister must overcome his aversion to delivering bad news, as his abdication of responsibility has cost us dearly throughout this pandemic.”

Johnson’s spokesperson on Thursday insisted all rules were followed at gatherings in Downing Street throughout the pandemic. Asked if Freeman was wrong to imply that firms should consider not having a Christmas party or replace it with a smaller gathering, he replied: “That is not in the guidance, it is not in the regulations.”

Teignbridge Council spat leads to apology

Ollie Heptinstall, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk

A spat at a Teignbridge council meeting which involved one member trying to drag another away has led to an apology two months after the event.

In September, a full meeting of Teignbridge District Council descended into chaos in an incident involving Councillors Gary Taylor (Lib Dem, Dawlish South West) and Liam Mullone (Newton Says No, College) during a question on planning procedures.

During an impassioned speech, Cllr Mullone claimed false “ghost objectors” to a planning application last year had been deliberately chosen by the council to fill the two permitted speaking spots which otherwise would have been taken by “concerned locals or their advocates”.

The councillor then left his seat and began shouting – which he later said was due to his microphone being switched off – and made his way towards the front of the room, before standing with arms folded.

Executive member for planning Cllr Taylor then got out of his seat and approached Mr Mullone, appearing to try and drag him away before the council live-stream stopped showing the incident.

A recording later showed Councillor Sarah Parker-Khan breaking the pair up.

Chairman Colin Parker hurriedly adjourned the meeting and when the live stream recommenced he pleaded for “a sense of decorum” while the authority’s solicitor invited Cllr Mullone to meet with him to discuss his allegations.

Speaking to BBC Radio Devon, Cllr Mullone said Cllr Taylor “grabbed me by the lapels and I heard my jacket tear. He was trying to pull me out of the room”.

“I kept saying, ‘Gary, this is assault’. Eventually I broke away from him and I continued until I got to the end of my bit of paper.”

He added that councillors should be setting a good example: “These people are making multi-million-pound decisions about things that effect thousands of people. These arguments are real and they’re important,” he said.

At a full council meeting on Tuesday [30 November], the first since the incident, Cllr Taylor apologised, but not directly to Cllr Mullone.

Addressing the meeting, he said: “You have my word that I will not act in this manner again in the future.”

“Whilst my actions were intended to prevent an escalation of an ongoing situation, I recognise that in the field of politics, there is no place for physical confrontation; however well-intentioned or otherwise.”

In a statement, a council spokesperson said: “As a local authority we expect all councillors and officers to demonstrate the highest standards of behaviour.

“Councillor Taylor apologised at yesterday’s full council for his actions at the previous meeting. Therefore, no further action is considered appropriate or necessary.”

Cullompton relief road funding fails. Bid for £13.5 million rejected.

Neil Parish has agreed to “try and see how far he can get at the Westminster end with conversations.”

Cullompton looks to be in the same boat as Exmouth – Owl

Ollie Heptinstall, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk

The future of a relief road for Cullompton remains uncertain after it failed to secure millions of pounds of government funding.

Mid Devon District Council’s £13.5 million bid from the first round of Westminster’s ‘levelling-up’ fund – more than half of the road’s projected cost of nearly £25 million – has been turned down.

The planned road to the east of Cullompton will improve capacity at junction 28 of the M5 – though upgrades will need in future. It will also help reduce traffic through the town centre.

The scheme will unlock the development of 2,000 homes as part of the council’s local plan, including an initial 500 properties east of Cullompton which will form part of the Culm Garden village, one of 14 such areas announced by the government in 2017.

Planning permission was granted in January for both the road and a new home for Cullompton Cricket Club, which will need to relocate if the road is built.

Originally set to cost £15 million, councillors were told in August that the projected cost had risen to an estimated £24.8 million – blamed on increased costs from construction, replacing sporting facilities and the potential amount needed for land acquisition.

At a meeting of the council’s ruling cabinet this week, members agreed to work on identifying alternative funding sources to make up a shortfall of just over half of the total.  It can reapply to further funding rounds of the levelling-up programme – the next of which is in the spring.

Cabinet member Councillor Richard Chesterton (Conservative, Lower Culm) said the road was “absolutely crucial,” citing it as a solution to congestion and air quality problems.

“This is, after many years of looking at it, the best way that both Mid Devon and Devon County could come up with delivering something that would take Cullompton forward – particularly with the levels of growth that are likely in a town like Cullompton and with the garden village in mind,” he said.

Deputy chief executive Andrew Jarrett said the council is meeting with the government later this month to discuss why the bid has not succeeded, and stressed: “We will be doing everything we can.”

“This is a key strategic piece of infrastructure that is very, very important to this council’s delivery aspirations.”

Cllr Chesterton added that he had held “exploratory conversations” with the area’s MP Neil Parish (Conservative, Tiverton & Honiton) about what other options might be to get the road built.

“He has certainly agreed to go and take it on board and try and see how far he can get at the Westminster end with conversations.”

And if, like last year at No 10, you have a party and anyone questions it, just keep saying  “all guidance was followed” (even if it wasn’t, because it was). – Owl

PS One piece of ministerial advice to follow: whatever you do “Don’t kiss with people you don’t know“

Kate Nicholson  www.huffingtonpost.co.uk

Government ministers have been sending out a rather inconsistent message about how the public should behave during the festive season in the last week.

The discovery of the Omicron variant has seen Downing Street bring mandatory mask-wearing back.

But should we limit our social interactions too? That remains far from clear.

Here are all the recommendations put forward by ministers about Christmas this week.

Cancel your Christmas party

Science minister George Freeman revealed that he had cancelled his work Christmas party and decided to hold it virtually instead when speaking to LBC on Thursday.

Blaming the discovery of the Omicron variant for the change, he said: “We’ve decided this year that it is probably sensible to do it by Zoom and wait for the spring.”

Don’t cancel your Christmas party

Prime minister Boris Johnson explicitly said the opposite of Freeman on Tuesday.

When asked by reporters if Christmas celebrations should be called off, he said: “The answer is no. The guidance remains the same, and we’re trying to take a balanced and proportionate approach.”

He even maintained that nativity plays should not be cancelled, adding: “We think that, overwhelmingly, the best thing for kids is to be at school.”

No snogging allowed

“I don’t think there should be much snogging under the mistletoe” at any Christmas parties according to work and pensions secretary Therese Coffey.

However, she added that the government was working hard so that everyone could enjoy a “knees-up”.

Speaking to ITV’s Robert Peston on Wednesday, she said: “I think we should all be trying to enjoy the Christmas ahead of us and that’s why we’re working so hard to get the deployment of as many vaccines as possible.”

She later clarified on Twitter: “Don’t kiss with people you don’t know…”

Watch the full interview folks … Don’t kiss with people you don’t know..Government working exceptionally hard with NHS and the Jabs Army to get boosters in arms so we can all enjoy a proper Christmas knees up https://t.co/3jgYFNM070

— Thérèse Coffey #PlanforJobs (@theresecoffey) December 1, 2021

Get your lateral flow test before

People should test themselves for Covid by taking a lateral flow test before social interactions this Christmas, according to health secretary Sajid Javid.

He said: “It’s not a formal recommendation, the guidance, but if I was going to a party with lots of people [I would get tested].

“But I would have done that by the way even before we knew about this variant.”

He later told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme: “Go to the party but just be cautious.”

Don’t socialise

Head of the UK Health Security Agency Dr Jenny Harries urged people not to socialise “when we don’t particularly need to” on Tuesday.

She also said working from home would be “a good thing to do” if case numbers continue to rise.

Do socialise

No.10 slapped down Dr Harries’ advice not to socialise where possible by claiming that was not the government’s official advice at the moment.

Asked about her recommendation, the prime minister’s spokesman said: “No. Our advice to the public is as set out at the weekend.”

They pointed out that beyond the mandatory face coverings in some settings, contacts of those who tested positive for Covid and new travel rules, the government has released no “further guidance to the public”.

Wear a mask – but not all the time

People are now legally obliged to cover their faces in shops and on public transport, but not in other areas such as theatres, pubs and bars.

Asked if this means you should wear a mask during a Christmas party, Javid told BBC Radio 4: “It depends if I am walking around or sitting down. It depends if I’m eating.

“People just need to make a decision based on the guidance.”

Self-isolate – but not for long

The government announced that double-vaccinated people arriving into the UK will now have to take a PCR test and their second day in the country. They will have to self-isolate until they receive a negative test result.

Leaked documents from Sage scientists revealed that the government had been advised to ask travellers to take PCR tests on day five and eight after their arrival in the UK – meaning they would have to self-isolate for much longer.

But Johnson has maintained that two-day isolations were “balanced and proportionate measures designed to protect the British people from the Omicron variant”.