When will Boris Johnson announce if June 21 lockdown-lifting will go ahead?
14 June 2021, 09:02
When will we know if the June 21 lockdown end will happen and what do we know about the possible plans?
When announcing his roadmap out of lockdown, Boris Johnson said that the fourth and final stage would be introduced at June 21 at the earliest.
This stage would see all legal limits on social contact removed, with nightclubs, large events, and limit-free weddings able to resume again.
There is increasing doubt that the date will go ahead as planned, however, due to concerns over coronavirus variants in the UK.
Here's what we know about when the announcement will be made on the plans.
- Rishi Sunak 'willing to accept four-week delay' of June 21 lockdown-easing in England
- England's June 21 lockdown end date 'could be delayed until July 5'
- Work from home advice 'could continue past June 21'
When will we know if the June 21 date will go ahead?
Boris Johnson is due to make an announcement on the plans on Monday June 14 at 6pm.
From this date, we should know whether lockdown-easing will go ahead as planned, or whether it will be delayed.
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How long could the June 21 date be delayed?
We don't yet know whether it will be delayed at all, but some reports have suggested it could be pushed four weeks.
Insiders have previously said that the decision will be made based to data on the Delta variant, with a source telling the Telegraph: "The scientists are more in favour of a two-week extension and that is certainly one of the options that has been put in the papers for ministers."
Another report by the Guardian suggested that Chancellor Rishi Sunak was 'willing to accept a delay of up to four weeks'.
A Whitehall said said that Mr Sunak is more concerned with the lifting of lockdown being permanent than the June 21 date going ahead as planned, saying: "The Treasury’s main thing is that freedoms are irreversible and businesses have clarity."
Health Secretary Matt Hancock confirmed a week ago that government is 'open' to delaying the June 21 date.
Speaking on the Andrew Marr Show, he said: "We are absolutely open to doing that if that's what needs to happen. We said in the roadmap that June 21 is the date by which we would not take Step 4 before that date and that we would look at the data.
"That is exactly what we are doing, so the roadmap was set up in order to be able to take these sort of changes into account."
