Calls for uniform coronavirus guidance across UK at Christmas

The Alliance Party's Stephen Farry has joined other politicians from the devolved governments urging for uniform guidance across the UK for family gatherings at Christmas.

The call came in a joint letter to the Prime Minister.

Boris Johnson, Nicola Sturgeon, Mark Drakeford and Arlene Foster were warned that their governments must "accept the inevitability" that people will travel over the festive period.

It warned guidance cannot be made in isolation given the "interlinked" nature of life in the UK, and called for a "four nations summit" to agree a plan. The letter states: "It therefore falls on you and your counterparts to work across governments to explore workable solutions that can enable travel to happen safely. "To manage the implications for public health, we are urging you to hold a four nations summit to co-operate on students' return, to agree uniform guidance on the number of people who can gather, and to explore how best to expand travel options to allow social distancing." It is signed by Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey, as well as his Scottish counterpart Willie Rennie, Welsh Lib Dem leader Jane Dodds and Alliance Party deputy leader Stephen Farry. Sir Ed said: "No one country can manage this challenge in isolation. The fractured rules across the UK have already been incredibly difficult to piece together. "We need a four nations summit to agree on one set of uniform guidance for Christmas that works for families across the UK. Ministers across Britain need to start work on it now." Despite the UK taking a near uniform approach to lockdown restrictions at the start of the coronavirus crisis in March the picture across the country is now more fragmented.