Plan B: Ministers defend new restrictions as parties remain in spotlight - BBC News
MPs are due to vote next week on stricter measures introduced in England to slow the Omicron variant.
Plan B feels like cover for No 10 party row - bakery chain owner

Luke Johnson, part owner of bakery chain Gail's, has questioned whether the move to Plan B Covid-19 measures might be a "cover" as the prime minister comes under pressure over alleged rule-breaking parties at Downing Street. Speaking to BBC Radio 4's World At One, he said: "It feels like it is a cosmetic device really, possibly instituted for political reasons as a cover for other stuff going on." Asked whether he was linking it to recent allegations about a Number 10 Christmas party held last year, he said: "Well, they haven't provided any evidence that very recent hospitalisations or indeed deaths have risen such that this is necessary or proportionate." "So, yet again, it feels as if our lives are put on hold and businesses are being made to suffer - by the way, without the compensation that was previously available - because the scientists and the politicians feel better safe than sorry, even if it causes us vast collateral damage." Earlier the Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the move to Plan B was an attempt to "buy time" to avoid the threat of a million Omicron infections by the end of the year. He said the government had seen data earlier this week that persuaded them that action needed to be taken.