Wycombe MP Steve Baker says "we have no choice but to comply" to new Tier 4 restrictions announced by Boris Johnson today, but calls for an exit strategy to the cycle of lockdowns.

Buckinghamshire, London and much of the South East will enter a new Tier 4 from tomorrow.

Similar to a national lockdown, there will be no household mixing and no mixing whatsoever over the Christmas period.

Steve Baker told the Bucks Free Press: “This is a very sad day as we move into Tier 4, equivalent to another lockdown. 

Read more: What are the rules for Tier 4?

“While we have no choice but to comply, it is clear lockdowns and increasingly severe tiered restrictions have so far failed in their goal of slowing the transmission of Covid. 

“And now the Government is requiring people to sacrifice the chance to share Christmas with family, friends and loved ones, just a few days after promising the opposite.

“If the Government wants the support of the public and Parliament, it must publish a clear exit strategy from this nightmarish, cycle of damaging lockdowns and restrictions.

Read more: As it happened - Tier 4 announcement 

“As we deliver the vaccine to the most at-risk groups around the country, the public needs to see how this will translate into a return to normal life, with restrictions being lifted at every stage, and a clear roadmap to all our freedoms being restored as soon as this work is done.

“More immediately, given the 3 tier system and the initial Christmas household rules were expressly authorised by the House of Commons, these changes must also be put to a vote in the Commons at the earliest opportunity, even if that means a recall of the House.”