BORIS Johnson has suffered his largest rebellion yet as Prime Minister after dozens of MPs rejected his plans for lockdown restrictions. 

The Prime Minister was criticised from within his own party about his plans for tiered measures from Wednesday in England.

Despite the measures passing with 291 votes in favour and 78 against, 53 of his own Conservative MPs were among those who did not support his plans. 

The majority of Labour and the Liberal Democrats abstained from voting, as well as the SNP and the Scottish Conservative MPs. 

Along with bitter criticism from Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and opposition MPs, Mr Johnson’s own colleagues were highly critical of his decisions. 

Steve Baker, Tory MP said he was “going to have to vote no tonight to send a message to the Government”.

He said MPs had been “looking for serious analysis of these harms and benefits from the Government’s policies in the context of coronavirus.”

He added: “Here we stand at a profoundly dangerous moment, heading into infringements on our liberties around vaccination and testing which we would never normally tolerate.” 

Fellow Tory MP Graham Brady, who leads the 1922 committee, said he recognised the difficult decision the Prime Minister faced, before stressing the need for freedom to be regarded as “precious”.

Matt Hancock told MPs he had suffered a loss in his own family as a result of the virus and urged them to vote for the tiered measures.

The Health Secretary's voice cracked as he revealed his step-grandfather had died after catching the virus, and said: “We can afford to let up a little, we just can’t afford to let up a lot.”  

He continued: "We know through repeat experience what happens if this virus gets out of control.

“If it gets out of control, it grows exponentially, hospitals comes under pressure, and people die.

“This isn’t just speculation, it’s a fact that has affected thousands of families including my own.

“We talk a lot of the outbreak in Liverpool and how that great city has had a terrible outbreak and got it under control.”

“This means more to me than I can say because last month my step-grandfather Derek caught Covid there and on November 18 he died.

“In my family, as in so many others, we’ve lost a loving husband, a father, a grandfather to this awful disease.

“So from the bottom of my heart I want to say thank you to everyone in Liverpool for getting this awful virus under control."