Brits have been urged to do the "minimum possible" this Christmas as the coronavirus threat continues.
Government minister Steve Barclay, 48, said he will not be seeing his parents next week and people must exercise their “own judgement”.
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury insisted families wouldn’t be “criminalised” for gathering and Christmas won’t be “cancelled”.
But he repeatedly refused to rule out changes to the Christmas bubble rules next week - telling Sky News: “All things are all kept under review.”
Mr Barclay insisted the easing of restrictions over Christmas was not a “tier zero” situation, the Mirror reports.
He said: “The position is not that we are scrapping the tiering system for five days – that we are letting people loose.
“What we are saying is, within the family three households can come together.
“That’s the limit of the flexibility that is being offered.
“I think it’s been mischaracterised as, almost, a tier zero, that we are scrapping restrictions in their entirety. That is not the case.”
And in a hardening up of government advice, he said: “People shouldn’t misinterpret what the guidelines say.
“It’s not saying people must go and see family.
“It’s saying that where family want to see each other, they won’t be criminalised for doing so. But it’s important people do the minimum that is possible.
“So people will make their own judgements, families will make their own judgements. I won’t be seeing my parents over Christmas.”
According to reports, urgent talks are under way in Whitehall about whether to tighten the rules on Christmas.
A No10 source said only there were “no plans” to change the rules, while a source told the Mail: “The Christmas rules might change.”
