Christmas is only eight weeks away so Covid policy plans for the festive period will need to be drawn up soon

This is the assessment of the Liberal Democrats in Scotland, Wales and England, as well as the Alliance Party in Northern Ireland.

Their suggestion is a sensible one.

In the first instance, it is wise to be realistic about the fact that there are limitations to the restrictions that people will accept over that rapidly approaching holiday season.

The first three months of lockdown were widely observed in the UK but then attitudes began to fray, particularly among young people. The increasing instances of group socialising confirmed what behavioural scientists had said at the outset: that if you a lockdown lasts too long, people begin to break it.

At Christmas there is going to be a massive desire across the Christian world for families and friends to spend time together at the end of a traumatic year. While it is important to facilitate that desire, there is no point denying that having vulnerable people in close proximity to others will bring infection risks.

The Lib Dems are also right to propose uniform guidance. Their leader Ed Davey says: “The fractured rules across the UK have already been incredibly difficult to piece together.”

This is so. In fact it has raised questions that go to the very make-up of the UK and the system of devolving powers. At times it is helpful to have local political rule that entails real powers, and indeed the need for localised Covid restrictions has highlighted the absence of such local rule within England (although this is changing with the emergence of directly elected mayors in London and Manchester and elsewhere).

But at the same time, the centre must be able to assert itself as Washington DC can do and Paris can do within their federal national systems.

Christmas is close: a mere eight weeks on Friday, so the policy planning needs to be done soon.

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