Tier 4: How UK newspapers are reacting to Boris Johnson ‘cancelling Christmas’

‘PM cancels Christmas,’ reads our front page

Our front page as Boris Johnson announced Christmas was ‘cancelled’ for millions  ( )

Boris Johnson has announced a new level of tier 4 restrictions, urging millions of people to “stay at home” at Christmas, after a spike in cases as a new strain of a more contagious Coronavirus spread across London and the south East of England.  

UK papers have been reacting to the news, as non-essential shops and gyms are forced to close, with most newspapers leading with glib looking photos of the Prime Minister and headlines alluding to the fact that ‘Christmas is cancelled’.

Most of the papers lead with photos of Mr Johnson from the press conference he held yesterday afternoon, with the The Sunday Times and The Sunday Telegraph both said Christmas has been ‘cancelled’ for millions of people.

Here at The Independent we said ‘PM cancels Christmas’ focusing on the new tier 4 rules and highlighting that the new ‘variation’ of the virus is 70 per cent more infectious according to scientists.

Our health correspondent Shaun Lintern features on the front page and said Boris’s decision to tighten restrictions was ‘the right thing to do…but far too late’.

Our front page today said ‘PM cancels Christmas' (The Independent)

The Sunday Telegraph front page as millions are plunged into new tier 4 restrictions (Sunday Telegraph)

The Sunday Times cites the ‘surging mutant virus’ as the reason millions were plunged into tier 4 restrictions (The Sunday Times)

The Mail on Sunday said ‘When will this nightmare end?' (The Mail on Sunday)

The Sunday Mirror said ‘Lost Christmas’ and made reference to Wham’s festive hit (The Sunday Mirror)

The Sun on Sunday front page (The Sun on Sunday)

The Sunday Mirror went for a more comic headline, focusing on Boris’s U-turn, and referred to Wham’s Christmas hit, with ‘lost Christmas’.  

The Sun on Sunday ran a photo of The Prime Minister and Father Christmas, and said ‘Oh no, ho, ho’.

The Mail on Sunday said ‘When will this nightmare end’ and said the Prime Minister had ‘wrecked’ Christmas for millions, and called the new restrictions ‘draconian’, much like when the country was plunged into a first lockdown in March.