The battle for Alfresco April
Rows behind the scenes over how soon to open up the battered hospitality trade Top MP told Hancock he should be f ired over 10- year jail sentence f iasco
LOCKDOWN misery could be set to end by Easter in some parts of the UK with people finally free to drink in beer gardens and dine outside restaurants again.
Under Boris Johnson’s ‘road map’ for a steady return to normality, No10 plans to let the beleagured hospitality industry lift its shutters in the last week of March.
In a break from earlier pre-lockdown rules, the 10pm curfew and the requirement to have a substantial meal with alcohol will be abandoned.
Last night it was unclear whether First Minister Nicola Sturgeon would follow suit and ease restrictions in Scotland as
‘Lockdowns have huge impact on livlihoods’
quickly as other parts of the UK. The news comes as the Prime Minister prepares to celebrate meeting his target to vaccinate the 15 million most vulnerable people by tomorrow. Mr Johnson yesterday said: ‘I won’t hide it from you. I’m optimistic, but we have to be cautious.’
If the downward trend for infections, hospitalisations and deaths continues, primary and secondary school pupils will return to classrooms on March 8 (in England). On the same day, picnics will be permitted within households and if one person wants to meet up with one other. Restrictions on sports such as tennis and golf, where social distancing is easier, are likely to be eased in April.
According to the latest Scottish figures, there were 908 new positive cases – just 4.9 per cent of all new tests – down slightly from the previous day’s 5.2 per cent.
A total of 1,173,445 people have now received the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccination and 14,009 have received their second dose.
The steady fall in infections – and estimates that the critical ‘R rate’ now lies between 0.7 and 0.9 – has increased the restlessness on the Tory backbenches over the economic and societal damage being caused by lockdown.
This weekend, 63 Tory MPs have signed a letter to Mr Johnson urging him to use the vaccine to ‘give us permanent immunity from Covid-related lockdowns and restrictions’.
The letter, organised by Mark Harper, chair of the Covid Recovery Group, argues that ‘just like Covid, lockdowns and restrictions cause immense social and health damage and have a huge impact on people’s livelihoods’.
Urging the reopening of all schools on March 8 and of hospitality by Easter – both now likely – the MPs say: ‘All restrictions remaining after March 8 should be proportionate to the ever-increasing number of people we have protected. The burden is on Ministers to demonstrate the evidence of effectiveness and proportionality with a cost-benefit analysis for each restriction, and a roadmap for when they will be removed.
‘Once all nine priority groups have been protected by the end of
April, there is no justification for any legislative restrictions.’
Amid a growing sense in Downing Street that the ‘tide is turning’ in the year-long coronavirus crisis: l Health Secretary Matt Hancock reveals that he had ‘danced a little jig’ at the success of the vaccine rollout. He says: ‘This is a take-up beyond my highest hopes. Because we have made such huge strides in protecting those at greatest risk, we are now in a position to extend eligibility even further and offer invites to over-65s this week’. There were, however, claims that some care home bosses are threatening staff who refuse to have the jab with the sack; l Former Prime Minister Tony Blair calls for the introduction of ‘vaccine passports’. Writing for the MoS, he says: ‘There is no prospect of a return to anything like normal without enabling people to show their Covid status. The good news is that technology allows us to make this work effectively and with privacy.’ It comes as major City firms said they will start using digital
‘This is a take-up beyond my highest hopes’
health passports from next month to help get staff back to the office;
David Davis, the former Brexit Secretary, led a Tory charge to dissuade Chancellor Rishi Sunak from unveiling a tax-raising Budget next month. In an article for this newspaper, Mr Davis gives notice that he would not vote for ‘damaging tax increases’ that threaten Britain’s post-pandemic recovery. His warning came as Mr Sunak was urged to provide a £4.5 billion rescue fund to the country’s ailing night-time economy;
Mr Hancock clashed with senior Tory Sir Charles Walker over 10-year jail terms facing those who flout new quarantine rules in England. Sir Charles said the policy was ‘disastrous’ and a repeat should cost the Health Secretary his job.
AstraZeneca said it would expand trials of its Oxford vaccine to children as young as six while Janssen, another pharma firm, said it may start testing its vaccine on newborn babies and pregnant women;
Despite hopes of restrictions soon being relaxed, police said officers in many parts of the country would be carrying out spot checks on drivers today to see if they were making ‘nonessential’ trips to visit lovers on Valentine’s Day;
A video emerged of militant teachers in England boasting how they used threats of strike action to keep classrooms closed – fuelling fears that hardline unions will seek to derail plans to reopen schools;
Documents emerged suggesting the laboratory in Wuhan at the centre of global suspicion over the pandemic planned to experiment on live bats;
Additional surge testing began in Middlesbrough, Walsall and Hampshire after cases of the South Africa variant of Covid-19 was identified.
Speaking at a visit to the Teesside plant where the new Novavax vaccine will be made, Mr Johnson said: ‘Our children’s education is our number one priority, but then working forward, getting non-essential retail open as well and then, as and when we can prudently, cautiously, of course we want to be opening hospitality.
‘We have to be wary of the pattern of disease. We don’t want to be forced into any kind of retreat.’
‘We don’t want to be forced into any retreat’