Following a four-hour debate in the House of Commons, MPs approved the newest lockdown by 524 votes to 16, a majority of 508.

Their approval was given retrospectively, after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that the lockdown should be obeyed by the public immediately on Monday night.

Mr Johnson has warned that the easing of the nationwide shutdown would be a “gradual unwrapping” and not a “big bang”.

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The government is aiming to vaccinate nearly 14 million of the most vulnerable people by mid-February, at which point the prime minister has suggested some lockdown measures might begin to be relaxed.

However, in the regulations approved by MPs, the legal powers to implement the lockdown do not expire until 31 March.

During Wednesday’s debate on the lockdown, Health Secretary Matt Hancock faced calls to promise votes in the House of Commons at the end of January and end of February to allow MPs to decide if the “extreme controls” remain in place.

Tory backbencher Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the influential 1922 Committee of Conservative MPs, urged the government to give the Commons “control over what is happening” during the next few weeks.

Mr Hancock replied: “While these regulations do provide for new restrictions until the end of March, it is not because we expect the full national lockdown to continue until then but to allow the steady, controlled and evidence-led move down through the tiers on a local basis.

“Those tier changes do require a vote in parliament.

“The restrictions will therefore be kept under continuous review, there’s a statutory requirement to review every two weeks and a legal obligation to remove them if they’re no longer deemed necessary to limit the transmission of the virus.”

Sir Graham later told the Commons that the government’s intent to vaccinate millions of the most vulnerable over the next few weeks “should not absolve this House of its responsibility to protect the liberties of the British people” or to hold ministers to account.

“Neither of those things would be consistent with approving regulations that would allow a full lockdown to be in place for the next three months, to 31 March,” he added.

“Both the prime minister and secretary of state [Mr Hancock] have given me reassuring words that they don’t want that, but the regulation gives the power to the government to decide that, not to this House.”

He again urged Mr Hancock to promise further votes so that “this House will decide whether these extreme controls remain in place for that long, not the government”.

Conservative former cabinet minister Dr Liam Fox echoed Sir Graham’s call for more votes before the legal powers expire on 31 March.

And former Tory chief whip Mark Harper, now the chair of the COVID Recovery Group of Conservative MPs, said that lockdown restrictions should be reviewed next month.

“I do think that regulations that run all the way to the end of March is too far a distance in the future,” he said.

“It seems to me the obvious checkpoint for government to come back to this House to seek the authority to proceed is the middle of February, when the prime minister set a very clear goal to have vaccinated those four first [priority] groups.

“And when the government is going to have to make a decision about whether schools return after February half-term.”

In an impassioned speech, Conservative MP Robert Halfon, the chair of the Commons education committee, called for a guarantee that the plan for schools to reopen after the February half term “is signed in blood and not just a guideline”.

He said the government “cannot risk an epidemic of educational poverty and mental health” among children for “years to come”.

Meanwhile, fellow Tory backbencher Sir Charles Walker, warned the new lockdown will “break” people as he voiced his opposition to the restrictions.

“That is when we in this place, the journalists up there with all their privileges, instead of sneering and dismissing them, instead of calling them ‘Covidiots’ should show some compassion and understanding – because we should wear our advantages and privileges with great humility,” he said.

Labour’s shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth earlier confirmed his party would support the lockdown but he criticised the government for not having acted faster.

“This is a national emergency and a national lockdown is necessary,” he told MPs.

“Indeed, we should have locked down sooner. We are voting this lockdown through on the twelfth night, yet in the run-up to Christmas the alarm bells should have been ringing.”

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Boris Johnson says he had “no choice” but to implement another national lockdown in England as “the facts are changing” on coronavirus infections.

The prime minister told MPs that the government will use “every available second” to place an “invisible shield” around elderly and vulnerable people through the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines.

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Mr Johnson is facing MPs in the Commons ahead of a vote on England’s third national COVID-19 lockdown later.

Justifying his decision to order a third national shutdown, the PM said the emergence of a new variant of the virus first identified in the UK had caused a drastic change in circumstances.

He said the variant was “spreading with frightening ease and speed in spite of the sterling work of the British public”.

“This mutation has led to more cases than we’ve seen ever before,” the PM told MPs.

“Numbers that alas cannot be explained away by the meteoric rise in testing. When the ONS reports that more than 2% of the population is now infected and when the number of patients in hospitals in England is now 40% higher than the first peak in April it is inescapable that the facts are changing and we must change our response.”

The shutdown has already come into force, with the Commons recalled from its Christmas recess to debate and retrospectively vote on the coronavirus restrictions.

Labour is backing the lockdown, meaning there is no prospect of a government defeat.

However, a number of Tory MPs could rebel or abstain to show their unhappiness at the prospect of another prolonged shutdown.

The PM announced the move in a televised address to the nation on Monday, telling the public that a new variant of coronavirus first identified in the UK was spreading at a “frustrating and alarming” rate.

And he said hospitals were “under more pressure from COVID than at any time since the start of the pandemic” last year.

In a bid to offer people some hope for the future, Mr Johnson said vaccinating the almost 14 million people in the top four priority groups would allow the government to begin considering easing restrictions.

Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove told Sky News earlier this week that ministers “should” be able to start relaxing England’s lockdown in March.

The regulations enforcing the lockdown, which were published on Tuesday, allow it to be in place until the end of March.

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Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will challenge the government to ensure the UK is the first country to vaccinate its population against coronavirus.

In a TV address to be aired on Tuesday evening, Sir Keir will call for a “massive, immediate, and round the clock” effort to vaccinate the public.

Speaking on the first day of England’s third national lockdown, the Labour leader will demand a “new contract between the government and the British people”.

“The country stays at home; the government delivers the vaccine,” he will say, as he proposes the terms of a deal between politicians and UK citizens.

Sir Keir will add: “We were the first country in the world to get the vaccine. Let’s be the first in the world to get our country vaccinated.”

Sir Keir’s address, a day after Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s own TV address to announce the latest lockdown, will come as it was revealed 1.3 million people across the UK have so far received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine.

At a Downing Street news conference earlier on Tuesday, Mr Johnson said this included more than 650,000 people aged over 80.

The government has committed to vaccinating 13.9 million of the most vulnerable people by the middle of next month.

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The prime minister will be joined by Professor Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance from 5pm, on the first day of England’s third national lockdown.

In a national address on Monday, Mr Johnson announced another shutdown to try and control the spread of COVID-19.

Live COVID updates as lockdown begins

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People are once again being told to stay home, apart from for a limited number of exceptions.

Offering some potential light at the end of the tunnel, the PM spoke of his hope that everyone in the top four priority groups for vaccination will have been offered a jab by the middle of February.

A surge in cases is being driven by a new variant of coronavirus that has been judged to be between 50% and 70% more transmissible.

As of Monday, there were 26,626 COVID patients in hospital in England – an increase of over 30% in one week and now more than 40% higher than the peak of the first wave of infections last April.

There has also been a near 25% increase in the number of deaths in the past seven days, compared to the previous week.

A senior minister told Sky News earlier that the government “should be able” to begin easing the lockdown in March.

Michael Gove said the public should not expect a sudden relaxation of the rules, with restrictions “progressively” eased instead.

He warned of “very, very difficult weeks ahead” and said the country was in a “race against time” against the variant.

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Tougher measures are coming in a bid to control the spread of coronavirus, the prime minister has said.

Boris Johnson said there were “tough, tough” weeks ahead in the UK’s fight against COVID-19.

He added: “If you look at the numbers there’s no question we will have to take tougher measures and we will be announcing those in due course.”

The PM said the government “will do everything we can to keep the virus under control”, but also added: “I must stress at this critical moment it is so vital that people keep disciplined.”

Mr Johnson said large numbers of people were following the rules and that he recognised some were becoming frustrated with the continuing restrictions.

“I think the public have been fantastic in the way they have tried to follow the guidance,” the PM added.

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The health secretary has not ruled out the prospect of another national lockdown – and said whether Tier 4 restrictions work is “down to people’s behaviour”.

Asked if the government could take further measures to try and curb the spread of COVID-19, Matt Hancock told Sky News: “We don’t rule anything out.”

He said areas in Tier 3 were seeing “sharp rises” in coronavirus cases, a hint that those parts of the country not already in Tier 4 could be moved up to the highest level of restrictions in the near future.

“This new variant is much easier to catch, it is much more transmissible, and we’re now seeing the effect of that in lots of different parts of the country, unfortunately,” the health secretary said.

“And it means that whereas the old Tier 3 was able to contain the old variant, that is proving increasingly difficult in all parts of the country.”

Asked if Tier 4 restrictions work in keeping the virus under control, Mr Hancock said: “It is down to people’s behaviour, frankly. What matters is, yes of course, the rules that we put in place, but it is also about how people act.

“And frankly what I would say is this: it is critical that everybody in the country does all that they can to reduce the spread of the virus.”

With the emergence of new variants of COVID-19 – first identified in the UK and South Africa – and daily cases regularly surpassing 50,000, there are growing calls for Boris Johnson to act further.

The prime minister has made clear he is considering that, saying in a BBC interview on Sunday: “It may be that we need to do things in the next few weeks that may be tougher. I’m fully reconciled to that. I think the whole country is fully reconciled to that.”

That same day, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the government must impose a national lockdown within 24 hours because the virus is “clearly out of control”.

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The government must impose a national lockdown within 24 hours, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said.

Sir Keir said the virus is “clearly out of control” and national restrictions have to be “the first step”.

He said: “It’s no good the prime minister hinting that further restrictions are coming into place in a week or two or three. That delay has been the source of so many problems.

“So I say bring in those restrictions now, national restrictions within the next 24 hours. That has to be the first step to controlling the virus.”

Sir Keir’s comments come as another 54,990 people tested positive for COVID-19 in the UK – the sixth day in a row that new daily cases have exceeded 50,000.

A further 454 people have died with coronavirus, government figures show.

It takes the total number of people who have died within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test in the UK to 75,024.

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As pressure mounted on the prime minister to keep all of England’s schools closed when the new term starts, Mr Johnson insisted education was a priority and parents in areas where primary schools are open should send children in tomorrow.

“There is no doubt in my mind that schools are safe, and that education is a priority,” he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr.

“The benefits of education are so huge, overwhelmingly we want to keep our young people in education.”

The PM also warned of possible tougher restrictions ahead: “It may be that we need to do things in the next few weeks that may be tougher. I’m fully reconciled to that. I think the whole country is fully reconciled to that.”

COVID-19 cases across the UK are at record levels and are increasing as a new, more transmissible variant that is affecting more children than before, spreads.

Most primary schools in England are scheduled to open on Monday, followed by a staggered start for secondary schools a week later, with GCSE and A-level pupils set to return first.

Some primaries in areas where the new variant is more prevalent will not open on Monday. They are in London and parts of the South East, including 11 areas of Essex, nine areas of Kent, four areas of Hertfordshire, two areas of East Sussex and Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire.

However, the National Education Union (NEU) has said all primary schools should remain closed for at least two weeks following the Christmas break as the new variant affects children more than the virus did before.

Kevin Courtney, the NEU’s joint general secretary, said its members have “a legal right to refuse to work in unsafe conditions which are a danger to their health and to the health of their school communities and more generally”.

But, giving advice to parents, Mr Johnson said: “Look at where your area is, overwhelmingly you’ll be in a part of the country where primary schools tomorrow will be open.”

In Brighton and Hove, the local council – against government guidance – has advised schools to implement remote learning until the 18 January, arguing its COVID-19 infection rate is now 500% higher than it was at the beginning of December.

Mr Johnson would not confirm whether secondary schools and primary schools that are closed would open on 18 January.

“Well, obviously, we’re going to continue to assess the impact of the Tier 4 measures, the Tier 3 measures,” he said.

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He added that the new variant means “there are obviously a range of tougher measures that we would have to consider”.

“I’m not going to speculate now about what they would be, but I’m sure that all our viewers and our listeners will understand what the sort of things… clearly school closures, which we had to do in March is one of those things,” Mr Johnson added.

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The first day of January marked the first day of a new trading relationship between the UK and the EU.

There had been fears it would create chaotic scenes at ports, with outbound lorries now subject to new customs checks but the new era arrived without disruption.

The Stena Line ferry and port group, however, has said it is too early to draw conclusions, as the bank holiday meant border traffic was unusually low.

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“This is the quietest time of the year,” Ian Davies, the company’s head of UK ports, told Sky News.

“The true test will come when the volume starts to build.”

The Welsh port of Holyhead normally sees around 9,000 freight units a week but in the run-up to Christmas it was processing 12,500 – a combination of festive stockpiling and a rush by hauliers to beat the Brexit deadline.

“A tremendous amount has been stockpiled on both sides. And that is in industry now. That will take a while to seep back into the system. So we think January, generally, will be a quiet month anyway,” Mr Davies said.

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The government has warned there will be some disruption to border traffic as firms get to grips with the changes.

All freight leaving the UK for the EU must now be accompanied by a customs declaration form.

On Friday evening, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps tweeted that “hundreds” of lorries had crossed the channel with a “very small” number turned back.

Six freight loads hoping to travel from Holyhead to Ireland were rejected for not having the correct paperwork, according to Stena Line.

“Hopefully by February it will return to business as usual,” said Charles Hogg, commercial director at Unsworth Global Logistics, a UK-based customs clearance broker.

“However, a lot of these unprepared importers will get fines, they will get extra truck waiting time and have a lot of additional costs.”

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The National Education Union (NEU) has said all primary schools should remain closed for at least two weeks following the Christmas break, and is urging Education Secretary Gavin Williamson to move all learning online as infections continue to rise.

And the government’s handling of the situation has prompted the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) union, along with the Association of School and College Leaders, to make preliminary steps in legal proceedings.

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The NASUWT union has also called for an “immediate nationwide move to remote education” for all pupils.

It comes after an embarrassing government U-turn, which means all primary schools in London will remain shut next week to contain the new, highly transmissible variant of the coronavirus.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT, said: “We have asked the government to share the evidence justifying distinctions drawn between primary and secondary schools, the geographical distinctions they have made and the evidence justifying the compulsory introduction of mass-testing.”

The union said it is now waiting for the government’s response.

Kevin Courtney, the NEU’s joint general secretary, said its members have “a legal right to refuse to work in unsafe conditions which are a danger to their health and to the health of their school communities and more generally”.

He said: “We are calling on Gavin Williamson to actually do what he professes he does – to follow the science and announce, now, that primary schools in England should move learning online – apart from key worker and vulnerable children, for at least the first two weeks of January.”

“Whilst we are calling on the government to take the right steps as a responsible Union we cannot simply agree that the government’s wrong steps should be implemented.”

Full list of areas where primary schools face delayed return

Mr Williamson said on Friday that primary schools in all 32 London boroughs will remain shut next week – rather than just those in certain boroughs as he had announced days earlier.

He also signalled more schools outside London could close by warning that the list of closures is being kept under review.

Announcing his climbdown, Mr Williamson said: “Children’s education and wellbeing remains a national priority. Moving further parts of London to remote education really is a last resort and a temporary solution.

“As infection rates rise across the country, and particularly in London, we must make this move to protect our country and the NHS. We will continue to keep the list of local authorities under review, and reopen classrooms as soon as we possibly can.”

Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU, suggested that a two-week closure could allow viral levels to go down after a period over Christmas when mixing may have raised infections.

Dr Bousted also cast doubt on plans to roll out mass testing in secondary schools, describing preparations as “chaotic”.

“Schools are going to find this incredibly difficult to get this up and running in time and to do it as well as public health would be doing it because they’re health professionals,” she said.

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