Downing Street 'expects' students will be allowed to return home for Christmas

Downing Street has insisted it expects students to be allowed to return home for Christmas.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said university students were subject to the same coronavirus rules as the wider population in the areas where they live.

It comes after Labour called on the Government to promise that students would be able to join their families for the festive period.

The No 10 spokesman said: “The rules for students are the same as those for the rest of the public.

"Universities can obviously issue advice to their students and I believe that’s what has been happening in recent days.”

Asked what Boris Johnson thought about students potentially being asked to stay on campus over Christmas, the spokesman said: “We would expect all students to be able to go home at Christmas.”

It comes after care minister Helen Whately told Sky News earlier she “absolutely hopes” that students will be able to see their families over the festive period.

However, she implied there was a chance they may have to stay at university if the spread of coronavirus is not brought under control.

Asked about London, the PM's spokesman said this afternoon there was “no update” since the capital was added to the list of areas of concern on Friday.

New national measures were not being anticipated this week, but any sudden change in the number of coronavirus cases could change this.

No 10 has rejected calls to immediately review the 10pm curfew for pubs and restaurants in England.

Asked if the restriction would be reconsidered, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “No. I would obviously say we keep all of our social distancing measures under review but no there’s nothing in that regard.”

The spokesman said there are existing rules around how off-licences serve the public during the pandemic when asked about concerns of them being busy after the curfew time.

And he suggested changing the time to allow more flexibility for a staggering of exit times from pubs was not being considered.

He said: “I’m not aware of anything specific in that regard. The decision to reduce time to 10pm was based on the fact it had been in operation in the local lockdown areas and had been considered to strike the right balance.”

The spokesman said there was a “particular media focus around Liverpool” with regards to crowded streets when pubs called time at the deadline on Saturday.

He pointed towards a statement from Merseyside Police Superintendent Chris Gibson who said images of a “spontaneous gathering around a local street performer” did not “reflect the overall behaviour of people in Liverpool this weekend”.

Downing Street said it is unable to judge whether the rule of six was working to suppress the coronavirus spread, two weeks after if was introduced.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “What you continue to see in the statistics that have been published in recent days is that infection rates are rising across the country and in all age groups.

“We have introduced a package of measures over the course of recent weeks and the intention of those is to bring the virus under control.”

Asked if the rule introduced on September 14 was not working, he said: “I don’t think we’re in a position to be able to say that. I think it takes a minimum of two weeks to be able to start to see the impact of measures which we have introduced.”

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