‘ UK needs to be a united family to save Christmas season’
By the end of October, we’ve normally decided where we will be on Christmas Day.
But it’s so difficult to plan this year. From Christmas to Diwali, from Hanukkah to the New Year, preparations and bookings for the festive season are on hold.
As the governments of the UK struggle to get this pandemic back under control, what should they be doing now, to give people some hope that the festive season can be rescued?
It’s my strong view that the four governments of the UK all need to get together with their scientists and medical experts. Put aside their political point- scoring. And agree a plan.
The festive season should be the catalyst for such co- operation for one simple reason: with families spread across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, it is simply inevitable that people are going to travel across the UK to be with their loved ones over the coming weeks, in large numbers.
For the UK isn’t just a family of nations. We are a family of families, interconnected across the borders and across the generations. The four governments’ job is to make us all as safe as possible: the interconnected nature of life in the United Kingdom means no single government can do it alone, especially at Christmas.
That’s why I, as leader of the Liberal Democrats, have written to the heads of all four governments, urging them to hold a summit to devise a joint plan.
Our family of nations, working together to save Christmas for our families.