UK Parliament to vote on tougher Covid tiers – as study suggests virus cases fell by third in November

Boris Johnson has defended his decision to put most of England into the top two tiers of coronavirus restrictions from Wednesday.

Many of his own backbenchers are furious about the effect that will have on hospitality businesses in their constituencies.

But he told them that although he understands the frustration it will cause, the measures are designed to be tough in order to keep the virus under control.

Latest figures show there have been another 12,330 new cases of the virus in the last 24 hours and a further 205 deaths have been reported, bringing the total to 58,448.