• Boris Johnson has said that people should not be cancelling Christmas events in the light of concern about the Omicron variant. Some firms and individuals have been cancelling bookings, but Johnson said he did not want to see that because there was “no need for that at all”. (See 3.42pm.) He was asked to clarify the government’s position after George Freeman, the science minister, suggest big parties might be best avoided. (See 9.40am.) Keir Starmer said firms should adopt a “common sense approach”, but - like Freeman - he implied that events with hundreds of people from across the country might be unwise. (See 5.12pm.) The UK has recorded its biggest daily figure for new Covid cases for more than four months (see 4.23pm), although the week-on-week rise remains slight (2.8%). For the second day in a row the number of confirmed Omicron cases in the UK has risen by 10, and the total is now 42. (See 5.29pm.)

• The number of people dining out across the UK has fallen to the lowest level since the reopening of indoor hospitality, according to restaurant industry figures covering the first few days since news broke about the Omicron coronavirus variant.

• The advertising boss Sir Martin Sorrell has said clients are cancelling Christmas events in response to Omicron, and criticised the UK government for failing to give sufficient guidance on masks.

• Johnson has refused to explain what happened at the two Downing Street parties last winter that happened during lockdown. (See 4.12pm.) No 10 claims the lockdown rules were not broken, but it has not disputed factual accounts from witnesses suggesting the opposite.

• Scientists believe they may have found the trigger behind the extremely rare blood clot complications stemming from the Oxford/AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine.

• A slew of the cheapest deals on PCR tests have been removed from the government website amid concerns travellers are being misled by companies advertising the coronavirus testing service for less than a £1.

The UK Health Security Agency has said that a further seven cases of the Omicron variant have been confirmed in England. That takes the total for England to 29.

And a further three cases have been identified in Scotland, taking the Scottish total to 13.

The UK total is therefore 42.

Here are the local authority areas in England where cases have been confirmed.

Barnet – 2

Bexley – 1

Brentwood – 1

Buckinghamshire – 2

Camden – 2

Chiltern - 1

Haringey – 1

Lambeth - 1

Lancaster – 1

Lewisham – 2

Liverpool – 1

Newham - 1

North Norfolk – 1

Nottingham – 1

Oxford - 1

South Cambridgeshire – 1

South Northamptonshire – 2

Spellthorne - 1

Sutton – 1

Three Rivers – 1

Wandsworth – 1

Westminster – 3

Keir Starmer has said Labour is advocating a “common sense approach” to parties. He said he was not saying all Christmas parties should be cancelled, but he did think firms should look at the case for holding a party on an event by event basis. He said there was a difference from a planned party for hundreds of people, with attendees coming from all over the country, and possibly from abroad, and a party for colleagues who work together daily.

Labour leader Keir Starmer says businesses should take a "common sense approach" to Christmas parties and isn't suggesting any should be cancelled.

Labour staff will be allowed some Xmas parties this year. pic.twitter.com/mpJWXm9htV

— Harry Horton (@harry_horton) December 2, 2021

The UK has recorded 53,945 new Covid cases, according to this afternoon’s update to the coronavirus dashboard. The total number of new cases over the past week is only up 2.8% on the total for the previous week. But today’s total is the highest daily figure for recorded new cases for more than four months (since 17 July, when 54,674 cases were recorded).

And there have been 141 further deaths. Week on week, deaths are down 3%.

In his pooled interview for broadcasters Boris Johnson refused to discuss what happened at the Downing Street events last winter described by witnesses as parties.

No 10 has not denied that these events did take place, but it has also claimed that the lockdown rules were not broken. If the witness accounts are true (and No 10 is not saying they are not), then it is hard to see how that latter Downing Street claim can be correct.

In the interview Johnson said he would be hosting various Christmas events in Downing Street this year, in accordance with the rules.

When ITV’s Anushka Asthana asked why Johnson did not settle the dispute about the 2020 No 10 Christmas parties by explaining what actually happened, Johnson replied: “Because I’ve told you.” He then went on to repeat his point about there being no need for people to cancel Christmas events this winter.

Boris Johnson has given a pooled interview for broadcasters saying people should not be cancelling Christmas parties. When it was put to him that people were confused by the rules, and wanted to have them cleared up (see 9.40am), Johnson said:

The most important thing is that people should follow the guidance we’ve set out. People shouldn’t be cancelling things. There’s no need for that at all. It’s not what we are saying.

Should people be cancelling Christmas parties?

Boris Johnson says "The most important thing is that people should follow the guidance we've set out and people shouldn't be cancelling things. And there's no need for that at all"

Latest on #COVID19: https://t.co/x6DmbxMKLQ pic.twitter.com/Mb0qbH1wfP

— Sky News (@SkyNews) December 2, 2021

Johnson was being interviewed as he attended a vaccination centre to get his booster jab.

At the news conference after the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary, said that the government had missed its deadline for introducing the bill to create an effective amnesty for crimes committed during the Troubles.

Lewis announced the plan in July and later said that the government intended to legislate “this autumn”. Today Lewis said that he would need more time. He said:

I’m already past the autumn. I think the latest I’ve heard autumn described once was the autumn statement of December 4 one year. So, I think we’ve already missed that.

The reality is, I think, it’s important to put the time in to try and find a way forward that can help Northern Ireland move forward.

If that takes a bit more time, then that’s something we’ve been prepared to do, hence why we didn’t deal with this earlier in the year and we were focused on trying to do something in the autumn, but we will do everything we can to try and find a way forward that works together.

Simon Coveney, Ireland’s foreign minister, has said it would be a “tall order” to seal a new Brexit agreement on the Northern Ireland protocol before the end of the year.

But, after a meeting today with Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis, Coveney said progress was being made as officials from Brussels and London continue talks for a seventh week.

Speaking at the Foreign Office in London following a British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, Coveney said:

There hasn’t been a breakthrough moment in the last number of weeks, but I think there has been a deeper understanding of each other’s positions.

Do I think that all issues can be resolved linked to the protocol by the end of the year? I think that’s a very tall order and unlikely to happen.

Lewis said at the same event that London would rather find a solution to the issues but repeated that the UK maintained the option of triggering Article 16 of the protocol.

Emmanuel Macron, the French president, has described the Northern Ireland protocol, the post-Brexit governing trade in Northern Ireland, as a matter of war and peace.

He told the EU’s committee of the regions: “It’s a question of war and peace for Ireland. So we should avoid any temptation to be less than serious.”

At the Downing Street lobby briefing the PM’s spokesman suggested that this was not an appropriate way to discuss the protocol, the implementation of which is currently a matter of dispute between the UK and the EU. Asked about the comment, he said:

When it comes to the protocol it is vital that we use measured and appropriate language given the sensitivities involved.

It is obviously welcome that Mr Macron recognises that a serious situation needs to be resolved. We urgently need to make progress.

This is probably one of the more minor verbal disputes between London and Paris at the moment. This week it was reported that in private Macron calls Johnson a “clown”.

Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, has written to Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, asking if he will call in the Metropolitan police to investigate reports that No 10 staff broke lockdown rules last year by hosting parties.

As the Mirror reports, in her letter Rayner said:

You will no doubt understand the seriousness of the allegations made.

This government is undermining public health messaging with their actions and we cannot let this go on unchecked.

It cannot be that the prime minister believes there to be a set of rules for the public and a totally different set of rules for himself.

Downing Street has repeatedly insisted that no rules were broken, although it has not denied that social gatherings did take place at No 10 in November and December last year that, according to various reports of what was involved, do seem hard to square with what was allowed under the lockdown regulations.

In the Financial Times (paywall), Laura Hughes reports further evidence that partying was happening in Downing Street last winter. She reports:

One Downing Street insider told the Financial Times there often were get-togethers in the evenings in No 10 while the country was in lockdown last Christmas.

“It was the only place you could get together and socialise. They happened most Fridays and they were the only things that kept us going, bearing in mind we were the only people in Whitehall in the office working throughout,” the person said. “We weren’t seeing anyone else outside of work and were our own bubble.

“It was whoever was left, getting together to chat and drink and maybe some music. [There were] speeches for people leaving.”

The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group has demanded an apology from the PM. Safiah Ngah, a spokesperson for the group, told the BBC:

My Dad died in February from Covid-19, despite being in good health. The last Christmas period is sadly one I will never forget. One in 20 people in my borough had Covid-19 and my family were desperately trying to do what we could to keep each other safe. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough.

To think that just a few miles away, No 10 was throwing a ‘Christmas party’, with no care for the rules they had set, is sickening.

Nicola Sturgeon has apologised after admitting people had been wrongly turned away from Covid booster jab appointments, as she came under intense pressure from the Scottish Conservative leader, Douglas Ross, during a rowdy first minister’s questions.

Ross pressed the first minister to explain why a number of Scottish health boards had failed to honour booster jab appointments for those aged 40 and over, despite Sturgeon, the health secretary, Humza Yousaf, and chief medical officer, Gregor Smith, all urging people to immediately book boosters earlier this week.

Ross said the Tories had surveyed Scotland’s 14 health boards and found only five had publicly confirmed the new booster rules (which said boosters can be booked three months after a second jab) had been implemented; five said they would “soon” and four had not provided an update.

“We know that the proper procedures haven’t been put in place; we know people were being turned away,” he said, leading to the presiding officer, Alison Johnstone, to ask Scottish National party MSPs to stop shouting him down.

Just got turned away from my booster jab at Glasgow Mosque. Even though I had an appointment, even though the JCVI advice say I'm eligible, NHSGGC not letting anyone in unless there's 24 weeks between second jab and booster appointment.

— Andrew Learmonth (@andrewlearmonth) December 1, 2021

Sturgeon said glitches were unavoidable, and added: “I absolutely accept for anybody who is finding themselves in this position, it’s really frustrating and I’m sorry they’re having that experience.” She urged those affected to rebook appointments online.

But she said only a small number of people were affected. Scotland had the best vaccinations uptake rate of any part of the UK, and was also boosting people fastest. “This is an enormous logistical exercise,” she said. Smith had only officially issued the updated advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) yesterday, she said.

And here is a fuller account of what was said at the Downing Street lobby briefing about Christmas parties.

• No 10 said it did not want people to cancel Christmas parties. Some organisations have been doing this, because of concerns about the Omicron variant. But the PM’s spokesman said:

The prime minister has been very clear on this. On Christmas parties, we don’t want people to cancel such events. There is no government guidance to that end.

It is right that post step 4 (of the road map out of lockdown), we returned to the position where people can use their individual judgment, but there is certainly no government guidance to that end, and the prime minister has been very clear.

The spokesman would not comment on the decision of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial to cancel its own Christmas party, saying he had not spoken to the PM about this. This morning George Freeman, a minister in the business department, told Times Radio: “The department of business, we won’t be having a big Christmas party this year. Nobody would expect us to.”

• The spokesman refused to back Freeman’s suggestion that people should not hold big parties. (See 9.40am.) Asked about what the minister said, the spokesman told journalists:

There is nothing in the rules to prevent anyone from having Christmas parties or gathering in that way.

There are a limited number of restrictions that we have set out on a precautionary basis while we do further investigation into this variant. Beyond that, the position has not changed since we moved past step 4.

Asked if Freeman was wrong to suggest large parties should be avoided, the spokesman said: “That is not in the guidance, it is not in the regulations.”

• The spokesman said government guidance did not set any limit on the number of people who could attend a party.

At the Downing Street lobby briefing the prime minister’s spokesperson refused to endorse the suggestion from George Freeman, the science minister, that firms should avoid holding big Christmas parties (see 9.40am), the i’s Paul Waugh reports.

Update: No.10 refuses to back Freeman on 4/5 for staff Xmas parties: “Our govt advice does not set any limit on numbers.”
Nor Coffey's ‘don’t snog strangers’: “It’s down to individuals to use their personal judgement. There are no restrictions on those points to that end”

— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) December 2, 2021

Chris Bryant, the Labour chair of the Commons standards committee, will be making a statement in the Commons soon on his committee’s report (pdf) proposing changes to the code of conduct for MPs. One of its proposals is for a change to the behaviour code for MPs saying MPs should “demonstrate anti-discriminatory attitudes and behaviours through the promotion of anti-racism, inclusion and diversity”.

During business questions in the Commons Sir Desmond Swayne (Con) signalled that he was strongly opposed to this. He said:

Some of the aspects of the report, such as the potential extension of the jurisdiction of an official into what happens in the lobbies and in select committees, touches on the principles of the Bill of Rights that no proceeding in parliament be questioned in any place or any court other than parliament itself.

Indeed, the principle of democracy is undermined by the requirement that we may be required to subscribe to behaviours to promote certain attitudes.

I hope that my constituents never elect a racist or a misogynist, but they have a right to do so.

The Cabinet Office has been fined £500,000 for accidentally disclosing the postal addresses of the 2020 new year honours list recipients online, in breach of data protection laws.

In a statement about the decision, the Information Commissioner’s Office said:

On 27 December 2019 the Cabinet Office published a file on GOV.UK containing the names and unredacted addresses of more than 1,000 people announced in the new year honours list. People from a wide range of professions across the UK were affected, including individuals with a high public profile.

After becoming aware of the data breach, the Cabinet Office removed the weblink to the file. However, the file was still cached and accessible online to people who had the exact webpage address.

The personal data was available online for a period of two hours and 21 minutes and it was accessed 3,872 times.

Steve Eckersley, the ICO director of investigations, said:

When data breaches happen, they have real-life consequences. In this case, more than 1,000 people were affected. At a time when they should have been celebrating and enjoying the announcement of their honour, they were faced with the distress of their personal details being exposed.

The Cabinet Office’s complacency and failure to mitigate the risk of a data breach meant that hundreds of people were potentially exposed to the risk of identity fraud and threats to their personal safety.

“The fine issued today sends a message to other organisations that looking after people’s information safely, as well as regularly checking that appropriate measures are in place, must be at the top of their agenda.”

In his interview with Sky News this morning George Freeman, the science minister, said that Boris Johnon was not a clown, and that it was “unhelpful” of President Macron to call him one. He suggested the jibe was linked to electioneering.

Asked about Macron’s comments, Freeman said:

I think we are into pantomime season, aren’t we? And there is a French election coming.

It is a pretty unhelpful word. Of course, the prime minister isn’t a clown, he is the elected prime minister of this country with a very big mandate, leading this country through the pandemic.

The truth is we are looking to work very closely with France on the border issue, on tackling the problem of European migration at source – which is why we are investing in trying to stabilise countries so people aren’t coming here – and, with France, we need to make sure that people in France aren’t being supplied with boats and being pushed out into the Channel.

I’m confident, actually, that Anglo-French relations are rather better than that quote suggests.

Albert Bourla, chairman and CEO of Pfizer, has said that people may need annual Covid vaccines. In an interview with the BBC, in which he said Pfizer was already working on a vaccine against the Omicron variant, he said:

Based on everything I have seen so far, I would say that annual vaccinations ... are likely to be needed to maintain a very robust and very high level of protection.

In the US the Food and Drug Administration has approved the Pfizer vaccine for use with children aged five to 11 and Bourla said he favoured this happening in the Europe. He explained:

Covid in schools is thriving. This is disturbing, significantly, the educational system, and there are kids that will have severe symptoms. So there is no doubt in my mind that the benefits, completely, are in favour of doing it.

The UK drugs watchdog has approved a new Covid treatment after trials found it cut the likelihood of hospital admission and death by 79% in high-risk adults, my colleague Andrew Gregory reports.

Here are some more lines from the George Freeman interviews this morning on Covid.

• Freeman, the science minister, said that he did not know if a Christmas party was held in Downing Street - but that all the guidance was followed. Asked by Justin Webb on the Today programme if there was a party, Freeman replied: “I’ve no idea. I wasn’t there.” But he went on: “But I’m told by those who were that all the guidance was observed.” When it was put to him that, if the guidance was followed, then there can’t have been a party, because they weren’t allowed, he replied: “I can’t say, I wasn’t there.” When Webb tried again, Freeman just gave the same answer. But he did say that he had “checked” and that he had been told by people who were there that “all the guidance was followed”. As the Telegraph’s Cat Neilan points out, there was an obvious hole in Freeman’s argument.

Amazing mental gymnastics from George Freeman about last year's Xmas party, who has spoken to people who "were there" and established "all rules were followed", but not whether the party took place

— CatNeilan (@CatNeilan) December 2, 2021

• He said that “a ton of work” was being done in government to understand the possible impact of the Omicron variant. Asked on LBC whether experts were close to working out how “potent” Omicron was, Freeman, the science minister, said:

Yes, the chief scientist Patrick Vallance and Chris Whitty and the team are literally monitoring the data on that. A ton of work is being done right now.

• He said ministers were taking advice on whether vaccines should be extended to children aged five to 11. He said:

The data at the moment suggests that young children are much less vulnerable but, as and when that data changes, we are guided by the science and we stand ready, which is partly why we have procured the vaccines - to make sure we can deliver what our citizens and patients need.

Good morning. It is the time of year when many of us are planning, looking forward to (or dreading) Christmas parties. But should you go ahead with them? If you are looking to the government for clear guidance, it is even foggier this morning than it has been.

On Tuesday Boris Johnson – once dubbed a Merrie England Tory, and obviously at the hedonistic end of the government spectrum – said that parties should go ahead. “We don’t want people to cancel such events,” he said at his press conference on Tuesday.

Last night Thérèse Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, offered a nuanced alternative. Christmas should go ahead, she told ITV’s Peston programme, but she said it was best to avoid “snogging under the mistletoe”. Asked for clarification on the snogging point, she said: “Well, not with people you don’t already know!”

But this morning George Freeman offered an alternative take. Freeman is minister for science at the business department, and so perhaps he is more at the evidence-based end of the government spectrum (or killjoy end, as they would put it in the Covid Recovery Group). He told the Today programme that, while small firms might want to go ahead with a Christmas bash, bigger companies may prefer to rethink. He said:

Individual businesses, in the end, have to make judgments on what is appropriate internally. It slightly depends on the nature of the business. For many small businesses, four or five staff, who are working together every day anyway, gathering to have a drink isn’t a big step up in risk.

But some companies might normally bring hundreds of people in from around the world to a big party, and they may decide, this year, is that sensible given the pandemic and given where we are? In the end, I think business people know how to make those decisions.

But Freeman also said that his own parliamentary team – which is not a hundreds-strong outfit – would be having its do over Zoom. He told LBC:

I can tell you that my parliamentary team and I normally have a Christmas party. We’ve decided this year that it is probably sensible to do it by Zoom and wait for the spring. It won’t be the best party in the world.

We’ll be getting a lobby briefing later, and it will be interesting to see see whether Freeman gets the Jenny Harries treatment over what he’s said.

If you are confused, you should probably just make your own decision, which seems to be what the government thinks people should do anyway. Alternatively, you could try the approach that No 10 seems have adopted – which is to hold a party, but pretend you haven’t.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.30am: The ONS publishes a report on long Covid.

10am: George Eustice, the environment secretary, gives a speech to the Country Land & Business Association conference. At 11.15am he holds a press conference.

After 10.30am: Jacob Rees-Mogg, leader of the Commons, answers questions in the Commons about next week’s business.

11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

After 11.30am: Chris Bryant, chair of the Commons standards committee, makes a statement in the Commons about his committee’s new report proposing changes to the code of conduct for MPs.

2pm: The UK Health Security Agency publishes its weekly Covid surveillance report.

And at some point today Boris Johnson will get his booster vaccine. And Keir Starmer is visiting an offshore platform in the North Sea.

I will be covering UK Covid developments here, as well as non-Covid politics, but for global Covid developments, do read our global live blog.

I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.

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