ANALYSIS

MINISTERS have wrestled for months with the challenge of how to manage Christmas in the time of Covid.

Their scientific advice warns that household gatherings in deepest winter, with many people travelling long distances to visit loved ones, are a recipe for soaring infections.

Yet they also recognised that snuffing out the hope of some seasonal cheer will be too much to bear for many.

Their dilemma was summed up in a recent article by polling expert James Frayne, a frequent adviser to Downing Street, about how to handle Government communications during the pandemic. His core message was “whatever you do, don’t mess with the English Christmas”.

Most ministers are understood to have accepted that a ban on Christmas celebrations – not seen in this country since Oliver Cromwell’s protectorate – would simply be flouted by many households.

The Government’s attempted solution is to try to limit the amount of household mixing while giving the country a well- deserved breather from the restrictions. A failure to do so could encourage wider contempt for the rules.

One Tory MP told me yesterday: “The Government is doing its best to strike a balance. Ministers know the virus is not going to take a holiday just because it’s Christmas.

“But the danger is if the rules are too strict many people will simply ignore them.”

The final details of the package has yet to be finalised.

But the key appeal will be for the public to stick to stricter social distancing rules now to make a little extra freedom to enjoy Christmas.