A HUGE HUG FOR BRITAIN

From cuddles for family to easing curbs on funerals, pubs and holidays, Boris vows ‘Covid won’t beat us’ as he announces...

BORIS Johnson will herald a return to freedom today, vowing that ‘Covid will not beat us’.

On the back of stunning Tory local election victories, he will say the success of the vaccine rollout allows for further easing of lockdown.

With one in three adults now jabbed twice, the Prime Minister will declare that friends and relatives can – from next Monday – hug for the first time in a year.

Pubs, restaurants and cafes across England will be able to seat customers inside again. And gatherings of up to six people or two households will be allowed indoors.

Hotels, B&Bs, cinemas, theatres and museums are to reopen while limits on funeral mourners are scrapped. Legislation in the Queen’s Speech tomorrow will be directed at the recovery from Covid-19, backing the NHS and spreading opportunity.

As the daily Covid death toll fell to just two with 1,770 confirmed infections:

■ The head of the Oxford vaccine group predicted Britons would soon be living without masks and social distancing;

■ The Daily Mail-backed campaign for a national memorial for Covid victims at St Paul’s Cathedral topped £1.3million;

■ Michael Gove said officials were involved in talks over moving the UEFA Champions

League final from Turkey to the UK to save fans of Chelsea and Manchester City from a travel ban;

Mr Johnson will gather his ministers this morning to approve moving to step three of the roadmap out of lockdown next Monday after the Government said the latest data confirmed its four tests for easing restrictions had been met.

Officials believe that lifting the curbs is unlikely to risk a resurgence in virus infections.

At a press conference in Downing Street this evening, Mr Johnson will say: ‘The data reflects what we already knew – we are not going to let this virus beat us.

‘The roadmap remains on track, our successful vaccination programme continues – more than two thirds of adults in the UK have now had the first vaccine – and we can now look forward to unlocking cautiously but irreversibly.

‘It’s because of the British public’s unwavering commitment that we are saving lives, protecting the NHS and controlling the virus.’

Almost 15million men and women in England now have ‘maximum protection’ against the virus, with two doses. Two in three adults – 29.6million – have had at least one dose.

The Government said it was on track to offer all adults a first dose by the end of July.

Infection rates are at the lowest level since September and hospital admissions continue to fall, or plateau in some areas, with levels similar to those seen in July last year.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said of the jab success: ‘This milestone is yet more evidence of the huge national vaccination effort we are in the middle of.

‘ I pay tribute to the huge team – NHS staff, councils and of course our wonderful volunteers who are working so hard

‘Keeping staff and customers safe’

to deliver vaccines in all parts of the United Kingdom.

‘The vaccine is our way out of this pandemic and tens of thousands of lives are being saved but the job is not yet done. I urge everyone, when the time comes, to get the jab.’

Professor Andrew Pollard, the chief investigator of the Oxford vaccine trial, said: ‘There is a future with no social distancing and no more masks, but from a global perspective we’re still a long way from that.

‘Here in the UK we’ve had remarkable success through the vaccine programme and that is getting closer to happening.’

Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show yesterday, Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said it was ‘the case that friendly contact, intimate contact, between friends and family is something we want to see restored’.

John Foster of the Confederation of British Industry said: ‘It’s encouraging to see the roadmap remains on track, with the certainty it’s provided businesses so far already appearing evident in recent economic data. All firms should be commended for their continuing efforts in keeping staff and customers safe.

‘The Government can inject further momentum into the economic recovery by providing companies with clarity on outstanding issues, including social distancing, Covid status certificates and the future of workplace testing beyond June 21.

‘Getting answers will help business cement the gains so far, laying strong foundations for the recovery, and support the planned full reopening of the economy without delay.’

The Bank of England forecast last week that the economy would grow 7.25 per cent this year – the fastest peacetime rate in nearly a century.

As the dust clears from Thursday’s elections, the epic scale of Boris Johnson’s triumph becomes ever more breathtaking.

By massacring Labour in its old heartlands – the pit towns, potteries and steel communities – the Prime Minister has cemented the red Wall revolution of 2019.

Colonised by uber-liberal metropolitan remainers, student activists and the achingly woke, sir Keir starmer’s party has severed, perhaps irreparably, the umbilical cord attaching it to the working classes.

But if Boris breaks his solemn promise to bring prosperity to impoverished Britain, new voters might jump ship equally quickly.

For the immediate future, though, he has most to fear from Nicola sturgeon.

While the sNP were mercifully denied a majority in scotland, the First Minister’s fixation with breaking up the UK remains undimmed. Pro-Union voters out-gunned secessionists at the ballot box. Yet she is cholerically demanding a second independence referendum.

Not only would this endanger the most successful alliance in modern history, it would be a road to ruin for scotland.

so was it wise for Michael Gove to give succour to her anti-British animus by saying of a referendum, ‘Not now... but not never’? A divisive, chaotic separation poll would also undermine the Covid recovery.

Correctly, the PM says we are stronger together. But he should tread carefully.

having won a place in history by redrawing Britain’s political landscape, he must not carelessly trigger another transformation – by letting the Union fall apart.