Rishi Sunak has been criticised as missing in action for being in California while businesses groups requested urgent financial help to help them stay afloat in the run-up to Christmas after people were told to deprioritise unnecessary social contact.
Labour said the chancellor should “get himself on a flight back and get a grip on the situation”, following the revelation he is on a four-day trip to the US.
Although the UK government and devolved administrations have imposed limited Covid restrictions, businesses groups warned that a change in messaging amid the spread of the Omicron variant carried the threat of rocketing booking cancellations and a decline of footfall in shops.
At a sombre press conference on Wednesday, Prof Chris Whitty,
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