Lockdown exit and back to school strategy to be published next week

The Prime Minister pledged to set out how to get the economy moving, reopen schools and allow people to travel back to work.

Boris Johnson has said the Government will finally publish the UK’s exit strategy from the coronavirus lockdown next week.

The Prime Minister pledged to set out ‘a comprehensive plan’ on how to get the economy moving, reopen schools and allow people to travel back to work.

Mr Johnson had been under pressure to reveal the next steps in returning the country to normality and to give clarity to businesses and communities across the country.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the plan to outline an exit strategy was ‘a step in the right direction’.

The UK death total today hit 26, 711 including those in care homes – making it one of the world’s worst hit countries.

However, Mr Johnson confirmed ‘for the first time’ that the country is now ‘past the peak’ and ‘on the downward slope’.

Leading his first Downing Street press briefing since recovering from coronavirus, Mr Johnson thanked the NHS and expressed his gratitude for the public’s ‘massive collective effort’ to shield the health service and avoid ‘an uncontrollable and catastrophic epidemic’.

The PM acknowledged the difficulties the public has suffered during ‘enforced confinement’ where they have been unable to see friends and family while worrying about jobs.

He said the Government is ‘determined in its resolve to defeat this virus’ and ‘get the whole country back on its feet’.

The first step in that process, he explained, would involve setting out how to kickstart the economy.

He added: ‘I will be setting out a comprehensive plan next week to explain how we can get our economy moving, our children back to school and into childcare, and thirdly how we can travel to work and make life in the workplace safer.

‘In short, how we can continue to suppress the disease and at the same time restart the economy.’

Referring to the five conditions the Government previously said need satisfying before lockdown restrictions can be eased, Mr Johnson said we must preserve the NHS’s ability to cope with cases, see a sustained fall in fatalities and avoid risking a second spike.

He added: ‘What you are going to get next week is really a road map, a menu of options – the dates and times of each individual measure will be very much driven by where we are in the epidemic, what the data is really saying and we are getting in a lot more data every day now and in the course of the next few days.’

Sir Keir welcomed the commitment, saying: ‘I’ve been calling on the Prime Minister to have a plan for the next stage and exit strategy. We’ve been pushing hard on that in the last week or two.

‘The Prime Minister has now said he’s going to have a plan next week.

‘So I think that shows that we were right to challenge on it, and I’m pleased that we’re going to see a plan.

‘We’ll look at it when we see it, but it’s a step in the right direction.’

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