The Health Secretary has slammed Londoners who left the city in huge crowds on Saturday night as ‘totally irresponsible’.
It comes after the Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced at 4pm that the capital would be placed into tier four, meaning it would be illegal to leave the capital after midnight.
That led to huge crowds of people unable to social distance in rail stations.
Speaking to Sky’s Sophy Ridge, Mr Hancock hit out at people trying to flee the capital last night. Sighing dramatically and shaking his head, he said: ‘This was clearly totally irresponsible behaviour. The Chief Medical Officer (Professor Chris Whitty) was absolutely clear that people should unpack their bags if they have them packed.
‘I think it is relatively small numbers and the large, vast majority of people throughout this whole pandemic have followed the rules, been responsible and played their part and I want to thank everybody for doing that.
‘It is more important than ever that people are responsible, not only stick to the rules, but even within the rules restrict social contact as much as is possible because this is deadly serious.’
But the Government has come under fire for changing the rules at the last minute, with many suggesting online that the scenes in London should have been planned for.
This is a breaking story – more to follow.