The lifting of restrictions on large outdoor events in Scotland is expected to be announced this afternoon.

The move would allow football fans to return to stadiums when the Scottish Premiership's winter break ends next week.

It will also avoid Scotland's Six Nations rugby matches having to be played behind closed doors at Murrayfield.

A limit of 500 people at outdoor events has been in place since Boxing Day.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will confirm in a statement at 14:20 whether that limit will remain in place.

Image source, PA Media

As we've been reporting, the PM is under pressure once more over the news that about 100 people were invited to a "bring-your-own-booze" drinks event in the Downing Street garden during the first lockdown in May 2020.

But how many other lockdown parties are said to have been held in Downing Street?

Here's a timeline of those events:

15 May: A photo from May 2020 , externalshowed Boris Johnson and his staff with bottles of wine and a cheeseboard in the Downing Street garden. When asked about it, the PM said, "those people were at work talking about work".

20 May: About 100 people were invited by email to "socially distanced drinks" in the Downing Street garden. Witnesses say Johnson and his wife were among about 30 people who attended. The PM has declined to say if he went.

13 November: Sources told the BBC that Downing Street staff members attended a gathering with Carrie Johnson in the flat where she and the prime minister live. A spokesman for Mrs Johnson denies the party took place.

27 November: A leaving event was held for No 10 aide, Cleo Watson, where people were drinking, and Mr Johnson made a speech, according to sources.

10 December: The Department for Education has confirmed it had an office gathering to thank staff for their work during the pandemic. It says drinks and snacks were brought by those who attended and no outside guests or support staff were invited.

14 December: The Conservative Party admitted that an "unauthorised gathering" took place at its HQ in Westminster. It was held by the team of the party's London-mayoral candidate, Shaun Bailey, who has since stepped down as chair of the London Assembly police and crime committee. The Metropolitan Police is to speak to two people who attended the party.

15 December: Multiple sources have told the BBC there was a Christmas quiz for No 10 staff last year. A photo - published by the Sunday Mirror - shows Boris Johnson taking part and sitting between two colleagues in No 10. Mr Johnson has denied any wrongdoing.

16 December: The Department for Transport has apologised after confirming reports of a party in its offices, external, calling it "inappropriate" and an "error of judgment" by staff

18 December: Downing Street originally denied a report by the the Daily Mirror that a party took place in Downing Street. However, a video obtained by ITV News showed the prime minister's then-press secretary Allegra Stratton, joking about reports of an event, saying: "This fictional party was a business meeting and it was not socially distanced."

Image source, EPA

Conservative MPs have been privately venting their anger over the Downing Street party allegations.

"He has lost all authority on the issue of Covid restrictions. He’s lied to Parliament. He’s lied to the public," one Conservative MP told the BBC about the prime minister.

Another is very critical of Martin Reynolds - the civil servant who reportedly sent the invites - saying: “To deliberately put something in writing to however many people is an amazing lapse of judgement.

“It’s beyond belief that somebody could write that. Beyond words that anybody could be so stupid.“

“I don’t think it’s just his role in question [Martin Reynolds], if the PM was there and sanctioned it then we have a very serious problem indeed.”

Why is government not commenting on the drinks party?published at 11:39 Greenwich Mean Time 11 January 2022

11:39 GMT 11 January 2022

BBC Reality Check

The government's response to questions about the "bring-your-own-booze" drinks party in the Downing Street garden has been that it won't comment on the ongoing investigation being led by senior civil servant Sue Gray.

Earlier, health minister Edward Argar told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he did not want to "pre-judge" her investigation.

On Monday, Boris Johnson declined to say whether he had been at the gathering, saying it was "the subject of a proper investigation by Sue Gray".

That position of not commenting on gatherings that might be examined by Gray has not been consistent.

On 20 December last year - more than a week after the investigation was announced - the PM responded to a photo published of him and staff with wine in the Downing Street garden.

"Those were people at work, talking about work," he said.

Police say they are in contact with the government over claims about the May 2020 drinks event in the Downing Street garden.

A spokesman says: "The Metropolitan Police Service is aware of widespread reporting relating to alleged breaches of the Health Protection Regulations at Downing Street on May 20 2020 and is in contact with the Cabinet Office."

It is not the first time the police have commented on Downing Street lockdown gatherings.

In December, after claims emerged in a video about a Christmas party in Downing Street, police said they were reviewing the footage.

A statement at the time said: "It is our policy not to routinely investigate retrospective breaches of the Covid-19 regulations, however the footage will form part of our considerations."

However, the following day the Met announced it was not investigating the allegations of a Covid rule breach due to "an absence of evidence".

Jean Adamson, whose father died in April 2020 because of Covid, has been telling the BBC it's "very upsetting" to hear about the claims of Downing Street drinks at around the same time.

Her dad contracted Covid in a care home, and died later in a hospital ward. His funeral was on the 15 May – just a few days before the alleged gathering took place in Downing Street.

Jean Adamson, who is a member the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, said: "It's very upsetting when I think about the sacrifices that we had to make at that time, and the funeral arrangements, and not being able to be with him when he died.

"To think that Downing Street were planning a jolly and breaking their own rules at that time it, just beggars belief."

Labour has been granted an urgent question in the Commons over the May 2020 drinks party claims.

Deputy labour leader Angela Rayner will ask the question in Parliament at about 12:30 GMT, the party said. , external

It means a minister will be required to be present - and issue a response.

More now from former Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson. She’s been telling BBC News it’s not just the Labour Party that is angry about the alleged Downing Street garden lockdown drinks party on 20 May 2020.

She says: “There are plenty of my parliamentary colleagues who have no idea what anyone in that email chain was thinking - this is utterly indefensible.

“If you look at the timeline for this, my understanding is the prime minister had only been out of hospital, having been severely ill with Covid, for a few weeks when all this was supposed to have been kicking off.

“I don’t know if he [the prime minister] was there or not, but he knows whether he was there or not and he doesn’t need Sue Gray to tell people that.”

Ms Gray is the senior civil servant investigating other claims about gatherings at Downing Street.

Boris Johnson has so far declined to say whether he was among about 30 people who attended the gathering - but witnesses have told the BBC he was.

Image source, PA

Lord Evans of Weardale - whose Committee on Standards in Public Life advises the prime minister on ethical standards - is giving evidence to MPs in Parliament.

Conservative William Wragg asks Lord Evans if recent events have damaged public confidence in standards in government.

He says they have "demonstrated that there is at least a carelessness among people in government over standards issues and possibly more than that".

He points to recent issues including attempts to change the rules to block the suspension of Owen Paterson, questions around the redecoration of Downing Street and what he calls "partygate".

Adam Fleming
Chief political correspondent

Labour has upped its rhetoric on the issue of lockdown-busting parties.

They've gone from accusing the rule-makers of being rule-breakers to calling the prime minister a liar and demanding that he makes a statement to Parliament.

A government source said he won't be doing that and accused the opposition of jumping to conclusions before the completion of the inquiry into Whitehall parties.

But the fact that there's an ongoing process means there's not much the government can say by way of explanation or justification to counter the stories.

By launching an inquiry, the PM has also put his own fate - and that of others - into the hands of someone else, depriving himself of the ability to act now.

And now that a senior civil servant is involved, there's a potential HR process too.

Image source, Getty Images

While much of the UK focuses on yet more revelations about lockdown gatherings at the heart of government, Omicron continues to have an effect on countries around the world.

• In Mexico, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has tested positive for coronavirus for the second time. He says his symptoms are mild. He's previously been accused of playing down the severity of the pandemic and turned up to a news conference without wearing a face mask on Monday.

• Chile has become the first Latin American country to start giving out fourth doses of the Covid vaccine. The campaign started on Monday and is prioritising immuno-compromised people.

• Hong Kong has announced further steps to combat a small but growing number of Covid cases, including the temporary closure of nursery and primary schools. Vaccinations will also be given to children as young as five.
• The Czech Republic has said that it will allow critical workers such as doctors and teachers to go to work after getting a positive Covid test. It's the latest European country to ease restrictions to keep services running as cases surge.

Robert Cuffe
BBC head of statistics

According to the Office for National Statistics, approximately 665,000 deaths were registered in the UK in 2021.

That is nearly 25,000 fewer than the year before, but still about 10% higher than the average seen in the five years before the pandemic.

That “excess” of deaths was the second highest figure since World War Two (after 2020).

Comparing last year’s figures to the five years before the pandemic takes account of the changes in population size, age and healthcare that would otherwise make it impossible to compare the raw numbers from the 2020s with those from, say, the 1970s.

The last two years have been exceptional by historical standards. Death rates normally fall over time, so any increase is unusual, but this change does not return us to the death rates of WW2.

Rather, they bring us back to the middle of the last decade.

Early data that take account of the age and size of the population suggest that, in England and Wales, for example, death rates up to November 2021 were roughly the same as those seen in 2015.

People who’ve lost loved ones to Covid have spoken of their anger about the latest alleged breaches at Downing Street on 20 May 2020.

Hannah Brady lost both her father and grandmother to the virus in 2020.

Hannah told BBC Breakfast earlier today that the pandemic is a "story of two men" - her father, who died from Covid, and the PM, who attended a party after recovering from Covid.

Hannah's father spent 42 nights on a ventilator fighting Covid and he died four days before Johnson's private secretary sent out the alleged drinks invite.

She said she was angry No 10 "thought it was appropriate to host a party... and sit in the garden at Downing Street where Boris Johnson met me and four other bereaved families”.

She said he “told us to our faces, after listening to my dad’s story, ‘I did everything I could to save him’”.

Boris Johnson has declined to say whether he was at the event.

Image source, Getty Images

The email invitation for the Downing Street garden party on 20 May 2020 - obtained by ITV News - was sent on behalf of Boris Johnson's principal private secretary (PPS), Martin Reynolds. So who is he?

The principal private secretary is a senior servant and the head of the prime minister's private office at Downing Street.

Reynolds was appointed to the role in October 2019 after a career in the Foreign Office. He was the British ambassador to Libya and before that, between December 2014 and January 2018, the PPS to the foreign secretary, which included the time when Johnson was in the role.

Between 2011 and 2014, Reynolds was deputy high commissioner in Pretoria.

Before joining the Foreign Office, Reynolds worked as a lawyer in the City of London.

Jenny Hill
BBC Berlin correspondent

Image source, Reuters

Meanwhile, away from the UK, the German health minister has described the British government’s current coronavirus strategy as an "unethical bet".

Karl Lauterbach - who's a doctor and an epidemiologist - said that the UK government's decision to not impose stricter measures despite high case numbers amounted to a policy of mass infection.

Speaking on a German current affairs talk show last night, Dr Lauterbach said he would never recommend the strategy that the UK had chosen, given that Germany has a lower vaccination rate among the over-65s.

He added that were Germany to have the same Covid mortality rate as Britain, his country would have seen more than twice as many deaths.

In case you missed it, health minister Edward Argar was asked about the news that up to 100 people were invited to a Downing Street garden gathering when lockdown rules were in force in May 2020.

Watch the video below for more.

Image source, PA Media

Ruth Davidson, the former leader of the Scottish Conservatives, says members of the public who "sacrificed so much" during the pandemic are "(rightly) furious" about the Downing Street garden drinks.

In a tweet , externalresponding to health minister Edward Argar's comment that he could "understand" why people were "angry and upset" but that we needed to wait for the outcome of the inquiry, the Davidson says: "This line won't survive 48 hrs. Nobody needs an official to tell them if they were at a boozy shindig in their own garden.

"People are (rightly) furious. They sacrificed so much - visiting sick or grieving relatives, funerals."

She ends by asking what "were any of these people thinking"?

Image source, Institute for Government

Dr Hannah White, deputy director of the Institute for Government, a non-partisan think tank, says it is "extremely unlikely" that Boris Johnson's principal private secretary could have invited 100 people to a Downing Street garden party "without the assent of the prime minister".

Asked if she thought Johnson would have had to have agreed to the event, she tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think he would have had to have done."

Citing witnesses who say he attended, she says it's becoming "increasingly difficult" for the PM to claim he didn't know about this particular alleged breach of lockdown rules.

White, who used to run the Committee on Standards in Public Life in the Cabinet Office, says it is "pretty surprising" the garden drinks happened at all and "even more surprising" that Martin Reynolds decided to put it on record via email.

Asked about Labour's claims that the PM misled parliament over previous claims of Downing Street gatherings, she says the two occasions he was asked about such events last year, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer asked "specifically" about Christmas parties, with specific dates.

Pointing out that Johnson did issue denials, saying he was repeatedly assured no Covid rules were broken, she adds: "Presumably if he went to a party in May he was aware that it had happened."

In England, on 20 May 2020, when 100 people were invited to a Downing Street drinks party by a top official, the rules in England stated:

• You could only meet one other person from another household outdoors, with advice to remain 2m (6ft) apart
• Larger gatherings with people from other households were not allowed, apart from a few exceptions, such as funerals, or where the gathering was essential for work purposes
• People who could work from home were still asked to do so - but people could attend workplaces if necessary
• Schools, non-essential shops, hospitality venues and hairdressers remained closed

Image source, Getty Images

We've got more now on the Downing Street lockdown drinks party from health minister Edward Argar.

Two eyewitnesses have told the BBC they saw the prime minister and his wife Carrie at the event.

Speaking to Radio 4’s Today programme, health minister Edward Argar says he “didn’t have any first hand knowledge of what did or didn’t happen” at the event.

He adds: “I’m not going to speculate on whether he was or wasn’t there. What I will say is it’s important rules are followed.”

At the time you could only meet one other person from another household outdoors, with advice to remain 2m (6ft) apart.

Argar says “he looks forward" to a report by senior civil servant Sue Gray into Downing Street lockdown parties and hopes it will come "swiftly".