Boris Johnson has said there is a "compelling case" for further coronavirus restrictions - as he promised pubs which do not serve food a one-off payment of £1,000 in December.
Pubs which only sell drinks, or "wet pubs", will be unable to open if they are in Tier 2 or Tier 3 areas under the new system of restrictions from tomorrow.
The prime minister made the announcement after saying the hospitality sector has been hit disproportionately hard in the pandemic.
Mr Johnson has spoken in the House of Commons ahead of a showdown with rebel Tory MPs over his post-lockdown plan.
Around 50 of Mr Johnson's own MPs are predicted to come out against the government in a vote to approve the tier system of coronavirus restrictions, in which 99% of the population face the toughest measure of Tier 2 and Tier 3.
Pubs will only be allowed to open in Tier 2 if they can act as a restaurant, while those in Tier 3 will only be permitted to serve takeaway.
Mr Johnson told MPs on Tuesday: "We will do everything in our power to support our hospitality sector throughout this crisis.
"We've already extended the furlough scheme for all businesses until the end of March... we've allocated £1.1bn for local authorities to support businesses at particular risk, and today we're going further with a one-off payment of £1,000, in December, to wet pubs - that's pubs that do not serve food."
The prime minister is assured of victory in the Commons vote this evening after Sir Keir Starmer said Labour will abstain.
Sir Keir said that while his party has "serious misgivings" about restrictions, it would not be in the national interest to vote them down when the virus still poses a "serious risk".
Labour's move will likely shine a spotlight on the size of the Tory rebellion, with many backbenchers furious that their constituencies face stricter controls than before the latest lockdown.
Only the Isle of Wight, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly have been designated for the lightest Tier 1 restrictions.
Mr Johnson told MPs: "With the spread of the epidemic varying across the country there remains a compelling case for regional tiers in England and indeed a compelling necessity for regional tiers."
The prime minister also told the Commons: "All we need to do now is to hold our nerve until these vaccines are indeed in our grasp and indeed being injected into our arms.
"So I say to the House again, let us follow the guidance, let us roll out mass testing. Let's work to deliver mass testing to the people of our country.
"Let's work together to control the virus, and it is in that spirit that I commend these regulations."
Sir Keir told MPs the government's plan to control the virus so far has not worked.
He said: "We've been here before. On 10 June the prime minister told us, for the first time, of his whack-a-mole strategy to control local infections - 10 June.
"He told us it would be so effective that restrictions would only be for a few weeks or even a few days. That was far from reality.
"Leicester, for example, has just gone into the 154th day of restrictions. And by the time these regulations run out on 2 February, Leicester will have been in restrictions for 217 days. So that didn't work, that 10 June proposal."
Sir Keir added that both the government's rule of six and initial three-tiered system also "didn't work".
He also said that the prime minister hasn't been "levelling with the British public", adding: "He's been fuelling a promise that within two weeks or so local areas have a real prospect of dropping to a tier below the one they're in.
"We need to level - in my view, that is highly unlikely and we might as well face that now. It's obvious that the new Tier 1 may slow but won't prevent a rise in infections, it's far from certain that the new Tier 2 can hold the rate of infection.
"I hear the mutterings, but let's just see where we are in two weeks - I look across to members in the House who think that perhaps in two weeks their area will have dropped down a tier just before Christmas. Let's see."
One Conservative MP muttered Sir Keir was demonstrating "hindsight", to which the Labour leader replied: "This isn't hindsight. I'm telling you what's going to happen in two weeks.
"We know where we'll be in two weeks, and I've no doubt there will be (Conservative MPs) getting up and saying 'I thought my area was going to drop a tier just before Christmas'. That's not levelling, that's not being straight, because that's not going to happen."
He added: "I hope I stand here and I'm wrong about this, and I think all members hope I'm wrong."
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMia2h0dHBzOi8vbmV3cy5za3kuY29tL3N0b3J5L2NvdmlkLTE5LWJvcmlzLWpvaG5zb24tYW5ub3VuY2VzLTEtMDAwLXBheW1lbnQtZm9yLXdldC1wdWJzLWluLWRlY2VtYmVyLTEyMTQ4MDMx0gFvaHR0cHM6Ly9uZXdzLnNreS5jb20vc3RvcnkvYW1wL2NvdmlkLTE5LWJvcmlzLWpvaG5zb24tYW5ub3VuY2VzLTEtMDAwLXBheW1lbnQtZm9yLXdldC1wdWJzLWluLWRlY2VtYmVyLTEyMTQ4MDMx?oc=5
2020-12-01 13:18:45Z
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