Pubs and restaurants to pay the price in tougher tier system

PUBS and restaurants will bear the brunt of a new Covid tier system so shops, cinemas and gyms can reopen under plans to be announced by Boris Johnson today.

Hospitality businesses in Tier 3 will only be allowed to offer takeaways, while those in Tier 2 will only be able to serve alcohol with “substantial meals”.

The measures – significantly tougher than the previous tier system – were described as “catastrophic” by pub chiefs last night, with a warning that a million jobs are now on the line.

Meanwhile, families will be able to enjoy Christmas together across the whole of the UK after ministers agreed a plan that will allow up to four households to mix for five days.

The Prime Minister will take a further step towards saving the traditional family Christmas by announcing today that communal worship can resume next month, meaning advent and Christmas Day services can go ahead.

He will also announce the revised tier system that will replace the current lockdown on Dec 3. While there is bad news for pubs, other restrictions will be lighter than under the old tier system.

All shops will be allowed to open in all tiers, together with gyms and places of worship, while recreational sport, including golf, tennis and organised team sports, can resume.

Cinemas will be allowed to reopen in English Tiers 1 and 2, while the advice to “work from home if you can” will remain across the country.

An announcement will also be made on social mixing, with the “rule of six” expected to return in lower tiers and a ban on household mixing likely to be brought back in Tier 3.

Mr Johnson faces a growing Tory rebellion over the new tier measures after 70 backbench MPS said they would oppose them next week unless the Government could show they “save more lives than they cost”. The Treasury will also come under intense pressure to provide more help for the hospitality industry after ministers were accused of using pubs and restaurants as a “sacrificial lamb”.

Rishi Sunak had argued for pubs and restaurants to be allowed to come out of the tier system on Dec 22 – two days before the tiers are suspended for Christmas – to help them to make up for previous losses.

But he appears to have been overruled by Mr Johnson after scientific

advisers claimed the hospitality sector was the weak link in suppressing the spread of coronavirus.

The 10pm curfew for hospitality will be scrapped, and last orders will be called at 10pm with an hour’s drinkingup time before a new curfew of 11pm.

But it will be of little consolation to businesses that will be forced to close in Tier 3 areas, or those who can only serve alcohol with meals in Tier 2.

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UK Hospitality, said the news was “far worse than anyone could have anticipated”. She said: “This a cruel decision and it just feels as if the whole sector is being thrown to the wolves.

“If the tiers had stayed as they were until March, we were already expecting 94 per cent of businesses in Tier 3 and 74 per cent of businesses in Tier 2 to go to the wall. Now we have restrictions that are even worse.

“We make 25 per cent of our profits in the run-up to Christmas and the Government is taking that away.

“This will have a catastrophic effect on a large number of businesses and all those jobs that were furloughed will be lost. You are talking about the prospect of a million job losses and 30-40,000 premises closing their doors for good.”

The announcement of a Uk-wide agreement on easing restrictions over Christmas means families with relatives in another of the home nations can now confidently plan get-togethers.

The leaders of all four home nations have agreed that the same rules will apply in every part of the country between Christmas Eve and Dec 28.

Further details will be announced later this week, but the leaders are understood to be deciding whether three or four households will be allowed to mix and whether the new restrictions on pubs will also be lifted temporarily.

Families must decide on their extended bubbles in advance and will not be able to mix with anyone from outside that bubble, but it will mean families will be able to have both sets of grandparents to stay.

The Cabinet Office said the leaders “endorsed a shared objective of facilitating some limited additional household bubbling for a small number of days”.

However, the leaders also “emphasised that the public will be advised to remain cautious, and that wherever possible people should avoid travelling and minimise social contact”.