The European Union should not "build walls" around the distribution of vaccines and should seek to meet its contractual "obligations", Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has told the BBC.

His comments follow a threat by the European Commission to block vaccine exports to countries including the UK.

EU Commissioner Mairead McGuinness said all sides needed to "calm down".

Separately, Mr Wallace did not rule out extending a ban on overseas holidays amid rising cases in other countries.

President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said last week that if Covid vaccine supplies in Europe do not improve, the bloc "will reflect whether exports to countries who have higher vaccination rates than us are still proportionate".

Mr Wallace told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show that both the EU and the UK should live up to their contractual "obligations".

The defence secretary said: "The European Union stands for the rule of law... and that means we should all abide by our contracts. We are legally all obliged, both the buyer and the purchaser.

"The European Commission also recognises that the world is watching."

Mr Wallace said the language being used by the European Commission was "counterproductive", adding: "Trying to... build walls around this would only damage both EU citizens and United Kingdom."

Earlier this month, European Council President Charles Michel said the UK had imposed an "outright ban" on the export of vaccines and their components.

However, there is no ban and his claim was dismissed by the British government as "completely false".

Mrs von der Leyen said the EU is still waiting for exports from the UK, and it wants reciprocity.

Ms McGuinness told Andrew Marr: "I think all of us should put our hands up and say we were not prepared for this global pandemic. We did not do our best at the beginning but we are doing our best now to protect our citizens.

"I think we all need to, if you like, calm down, look very... dispassionately at the situation around the raw materials for vaccines, around where they are produced and how we might ramp up that production."