THE Christmas hopes of millions of people were thrown into confusion last night after the UK Government raised the prospect of a four-nation deal covering the festive period but the Scottish and Welsh Governments made clear no final agreement had yet been reached.

Whitehall sources talked up how coronavirus rules could apply across all four home nations, allowing up to four households to mix for five days from Christmas Eve to December 28.

Following weekend talks between Michael Gove and Nicola Sturgeon together with her Welsh and Northern Irish counterparts, the Cabinet Office Minister issued an upbeat statement, saying: “Welcoming the good progress made by all administrations over the past few days to design a single set of arrangements that can apply across the UK, ministers reiterated the importance of allowing families and friends to meet in a careful and limited way, while recognising that this will not be a normal festive period and the risks of transmission remain very real.

“As such, ministers endorsed a shared objective of facilitating some limited additional household bubbling for a small number of days but also emphasised that the public will be advised to remain cautious and that, wherever possible, people should avoid travelling and minimise social contact.”

The Cabinet Office Minister pointed out that with regards to Northern Ireland, ministers also recognised that people would want to see family and friends across the island of Ireland and this was the subject of discussions with the Irish Government.

“Work is continuing to finalise the arrangements, including relating to travel. The UK Government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive hope to conclude this work this week, subject to agreement by each administration,” added Mr Gove.

However, last night Edinburgh and Cardiff emphasised how no such agreement had yet been done.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “No agreement has been reached and talks are continuing.” A source close to Ms Sturgeon insisted “nothing definitive” had been agreed.

A spokeswoman for the Welsh Government told The Herald that it was true the four administrations “want to allow some additional bubbling but no final agreement has been made and talks are ongoing”.

Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, urged caution, saying: "It is welcome news that the four governments are continuing to work together so that families across the UK may be able to celebrate Christmas. However, we must remain cautious until the full details are agreed."

Earlier, Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, warned that “Christmas is not going to be normal this year” but also stressed ministers were trying to work out a way for people to see their loved ones over the festive period.

Professor Calum Semple, a member of the UK Government’s Sage team of experts, noted how “in reality, we can’t ban Christmas” because it would “simply lead to breaches”.

Boris Johnson, who chaired a virtual meeting on his Cabinet on Sunday, will today set out the basis of a cross-border plan for the festive period in a Commons statement but he will be unable to say how many households will be allowed to mix over Christmas and for how many days restrictions will be relaxed for until a later date.

The full details of a four-nations’ festive relaxation will not be announced until after all the First Ministers of the devolved administration have agreed the plans with their respective Cabinets.

Today, the Prime Minister will tell MPs that the monthlong lockdown in England will end, as planned, on December 2 and that a tiered system with tougher restrictions in some areas will be introduced.

He will also pledge major testing programmes for all areas south of the border forced into the highest level of coronavirus restrictions once England's lockdown finishes next week.

Mr Johnson will announce communities will get rapid testing with military support under his plans for a strengthened three-tier system.

He will hope the potential route out of the severest measures will help convince Conservative MPs and local leaders into backing his "Covid winter plan" amid the potential for a backbench rebellion and wider resistance.

At Westminster, the Tory Covid Recovery Group, formed by 70 MPs who opposed the second lockdown, warned they would rebel over returning to a tiered system of regional restrictions in England unless it were proven they would “save more lives than they cost”.

In a letter sent to the PM, the group, led by MPs Mark Harper and Steve Baker, demanded publication of the UK Government’s full cost-benefit analysis of the restrictions.

However, Mr Sunak suggested providing the evidence they required would be a tall order, paving the way for a significant challenge to get Parliament’s approval for the restrictions when MPs get a vote in the days before new restrictions are to come into force.

“It’s very hard to be precise in estimating the particular impact of a one-week restriction,” the Chancellor told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday.

Labour has thus far been supportive of the need for restrictions to slow the spread of Covid-19 and so a full-scale Commons defeat on the Government plan is unlikely.

One move, however, that is likely to be welcomed by Conservative rebels is Mr Sunak confirming to The Andrew Marr Show on the BBC that plans to change the curfew period for pubs and restaurants in England was “definitely something we’re looking at”.

The PM is understood to be preparing to unveil a plan so that while last orders must be called at 10pm, people will get an extra hour to finish their food and drinks, with opening hours to be extended until 11pm.

Downing Street will hope an easing at Christmas, potential vaccines on the horizon and new scientific evidence will lessen the scale of any backbench rebellion with the Government’s Sage group of experts expected to publish papers today, saying the previous tiers were not strong enough.

Mr Johnson will detail his plans, including the testing scheme which is an extension of the pilot seen in Liverpool, to MPs this afternoon.

He is expected to say: "The selflessness of people in following the rules is making a difference. The virus is not spreading nearly as quickly as it would if we were not washing our hands, maintaining social distance, wearing masks and so on.

"And in England, where nationwide measures came into effect at the start of this month, the increase in new cases is flattening off.

"But we are not out of the woods yet. The virus is still present in communities across the country and remains both far more infectious and far more deadly than seasonal flu.

"But with expansion in testing and vaccines edging closer to deployment, the regional tiered system will help get the virus back under control and keep it there,” he will add.

Susan Hopkins, Director of Public Health England, said the pilot mass testing scheme in Liverpool had detected 700 cases that would not otherwise have been traced over a 10-day period.

Meanwhile, Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter said the latest data clearly showed infection rates were coming down and he predicted the R number was now below one.

The expert told Times Radio: “My guess is that R is currently less than one on average; that doesn’t mean everywhere in the country. Matt Hancock is very cautious. The data really does suggest it’s coming down.”

The number of lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK has passed 1.5 million after a further 18,662 cases were officially announced on Sunday. It brings the total number of cases in the UK to 1,512,045.

The UK Government said a further 398 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Sunday, bringing the UK total to 55,024.