Boris Johnson admits he cannot rule out restrictions and disruption at Christmas

Cancelling Christmas is ‘very much not the plan’ says prime minister

(Getty Images)

Boris Johnson has admitted he cannot guarantee a normal Christmas this year, as Britain grapples with disruption to goods supplies caused by gas price hikes and shortages of lorry drivers, as well as the potential of another spike in coronavirus cases.

The prime minister insisted that it was “very much not the plan” to cancel Christmas for a second year in succession, after he ordered Britons to avoid family get-togethers as the Kent variant of Covid-19 sent cases soaring last December.

But he stopped short of promising that the festive season would be back to normal, stressing that the winter plan set out by the government earlier this month envisaged possible Plan B restrictions - including mandatory face-masks and vaccine passports - if the NHS was coming under unsustainable pressure.

Asked whether he could guarantee Britons a disruption-free Christmas, the PM said: “I just want to go back to what I said about Plan A and Plan B. Plan A is what we’re on, and Plan B is what we might have to do.

“It’s a graduated series of steps and we certainly don’t want or expect to have to do anything like last Christmas.”

Asked whether he would cancel Christmas for a second year, he replied: “That is very much not the plan”.