THE GREAT UNLOCKING
Green light for staycations and 2nd home visits from next week
HOLIDAYS in Britain are to be allowed from the end of next week as Boris Johnson announces a major easing of lockdown restrictions which will also let owners of second homes visit their properties again.
The Prime Minister is expected tomorrow to confirm plans for hotels, pubs, restaurants and hairdressers to get back to business from July 4.
He will also announce the ditching of the two-metre rule.
Those with holiday homes will be told they can stay at them for the first time in more than three months as part of efforts to boost the tourism trade. With guidance on travel to foreign countries still under discussion, many families are expected to opt for a staycation this summer.
However, Mr Johnson will warn that restrictions will be brought back in if there is a sudden rise in infections.
The Prime Minister said last night he is ‘sticking like glue’ to his road map for easing the lockdown for the hospitality sector.
In a Downing Street interview, he said: ‘The disease is increasingly under control and I just want people to reflect on that important fact. It’s going down, we are getting it down.
‘So, of course, as we make that progress it will be possible to open up more and you will be hearing more about what we want to do with the hospitality sector from July 4.’
Mr Johnson said it was ‘very important we don’t lose our vice-like grip on the disease’ and that ‘we’ve got to keep it on the floor where we’ve got it’. But he said he expected to announce changes to the twometre social-distancing rule. ‘You won’t have much more to wait now,’ he added.
The PM will meet today with experts and Cabinet colleagues on the Covid-19 Strategy Committee to thrash out details on the next phase of the lockdown road map.
The changes will be signed off at a Cabinet meeting tomorrow morning before being announced by Mr Johnson in Parliament in the afternoon. Detailed guidance will then be published for each sector so businesses that do open can be ‘Covid Secure’.
Mr Johnson will warn the public they must continue to follow social distancing guidelines to keep coronavirus under control. If there are widespread breaches of the rules resulting in the virus threatening to run out of control, this week’s easing measures such as letting pubs reopen will be the first to be reversed, he will say.
A No 10 spokesman said: ‘ The reason we are able to move forward this week is because the vast majority of people have taken steps to contain the virus. The more we open up, the more important it is that everyone follows the social-distancing rules.
‘We will not hesitate to put the handbrake on to stop the virus running out of control.’
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the UK was ‘on track’ to further ease the lockdown. He told
Sky’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme: ‘We will of course be setting out more details ... and in the plan it states that on around July 4 we will take further measures if it’s safe to do so.’
‘Won’t have much more to wait now’