PM: CURBS COULD GO ON AND ON

Tory fury as freedom delayed to July 19 — and Boris warns any new deadly variant means even THAT isn’t certain

BORIS Johnson last night refused to guarantee personal liberties will be restored this summer.

In a bitter blow to millions of families, he ditched his plan to lift all Covid restrictions on June 21.

He said a surge in cases of the Indian variant of the virus meant it was no longer safe to press ahead with what has been dubbed Freedom Day.

The Prime Minister said he was ‘ confident’ a four- week delay – to July 19 – would be all that was needed, allowing more Britons to be double-jabbed.

But he failed repeatedly to offer a guarantee that Freedom Day would not be put off again.

Instead he warned he could not rule out ‘the possibility that there is some new variant that is far more dangerous, that kills people in a way that we currently cannot foresee or understand’.

The delay infuriated many senior Tories while business leaders said it was ‘a hammer blow’ for hospitality firms, night-time industries and arts venues that

have spent millions of pounds on preparations to reopen fully.

Mr Johnson’s decision came despite fresh evidence that the vaccines are highly effective against the Indian variant and are breaking the link between cases and hospitalisations.

Mark Harper, chairman of the 70-strong Covid Recovery Group of Tory MPs said it was ‘very concerning that the PM couldn’t rule out either a further delay beyond 19 July’.

Other MPs went further, with one saying that he feared the country would now be ‘held hostage’ by new variants as long as coronavirus was in existence. Another said he felt an ‘overwhelming sense of pessimism’ about the restrictions lasting well into winter – and probably tightening again.

In a bid to limit the impact on families, Mr Johnson announced that the 30-guest cap on weddings would be lifted as planned on June 21, allowing thousands of larger marriages to go ahead.

He acknowledged the economic damage the delay would do was a cause for ‘bitter regret’ but he said the move would ‘save thousands of lives’, and enable millions more people to get their first and second jabs.

At a Downing Street press conference last night, the Prime Minister said he was ‘confident’ the vaccination programme would allow July 19 to become a ‘terminus date’ for restrictions. He said the nation would eventually have to ‘learn to live with the virus’, including accepting the fact it would continue to cause deaths for some time.

But he said the surge in cases meant it was ‘sensible to wait a little longer’ adding: ‘Now is the time to ease off the accelerator.’ In other developments:

■ Government scientists said the Indian variant could be up to 80 per cent more transmissible than previous strains and twice as likely to put people in hospital;

■ However, a major study revealed that two doses of either vaccine reduce the chances of hospitalisation from the strain by more than 90 per cent;

■ The 12-week gap between jabs will be cut to eight for all over-40s in a bid to get the entire age group fully vaccinated by July 19;

■ People aged 23 and 24 will be able to book their first jabs from today;

■ The Government’s ‘minimise travel’ zone, which already covers Greater Manchester and Lancashire, was expanded to Birmingham, Blackpool, Cheshire, Warrington and the Liverpool city region;

n Tory MP Eliot Colburn dubbed the announcement on weddings a ‘ smokescreen’, saying continuing curbs were so

‘Held hostage by new variants’

onerous he would cancel his own nuptials;

■ The Government ruled out additional help for businesses hit hardest by the delay, despite warnings the hospitality sector alone could lose another £3billion;

■ A YouGov poll found 71 per cent of people support a delay in opening up, with most even saying the cap on weddings should have remained in place;

■ Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty suggested children could be offered the jab later this year to reduce disruption to lessons caused by outbreaks;

■ In a rare easing of restrictions, the PM said care home residents visiting family would no longer have to self-isolate for 14 days on return;

■ Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle condemned the PM for announcing the changes to the media before MPs, and suggested ministers had lied to him;

■ Vaccine passports will be used to allow bigger crowds at some key sporting events, including Wimbledon and the Euros;

■ Work from home guidance will stay in place until at least July 19, and could remain until the autumn;

■ Scotland and Wales could unlock faster than England as their governments continue to mull the next steps.

Mr Johnson repeatedly refused to offer any guarantees that the remaining restrictions would end on July 19, despite the fact all adults will have been offered a jab by that date and two thirds will be fully vaccinated.

‘Can I give a cast-iron guarantee that there won’t be further delay?’ he said.

‘On the basis of what we can currently see I am confident that July 19 will be a terminus date. But that is on the basis of the evidence currently before us.’

Tory MP Julian Sturdy said many businesses were at ‘breaking point’, and said he was not confident the Prime Minister would end restrictions next month. He added: ‘Today has been a disappointing setback but this debate is not over. With each message from a despairing constituent only strengthening my resolve and intensifying my lobbying efforts to bring restrictions to an overdue end.’

There were 7,742 new coronavirus cases recorded yesterday and three deaths within 28 days of a positive test.

Professor Whitty said he backed the July 19 target date. But he added: ‘No one thinks after four weeks the risk is gone. There will be substantial numbers in hospital.’

Chief scientist Sir Patrick Vallance said that Covid vaccines were proving ‘spectacularly’ effective.

‘This debate is not over’

IT had been well-flagged, but that didn’t cushion the crashing disappointment.

At an estimated cost to the economy of £ 4billion, Freedom Day has been postponed. Not cancelled, we are assured. Merely put back four weeks to July 19.

So after days of Boris Johnson bragging at the G7 about how Britain was looking boldly outwards to the world, he sends us scuttling timidly back into our rabbit hole.

And after such a flagrant breach of trust, can we even believe in his new ‘terminus date’? In the intervening period another variant could emerge to hold us in its thrall. Then another, and another…

One thing we do know about this virus is that it constantly mutates. Are we therefore destined to live this half-life in perpetuity?

Not according to the Government narrative, of course.

They say that if it weren’t for the Indian – or Delta – variant, the Prime Minister would have fully reopened society as promised from June 21.

However, because it’s so much more transmissible and now accounts for the majority of all UK infections, he had no choice but to delay the end of restrictions for four weeks.

By that time, the PM says, all over-40s will have been offered both jabs, cutting their risk of hospitalisation and death to minuscule levels.

But they are already at minuscule levels. Mr Johnson claims the four-week delay could save ‘thousands of lives’. But whose lives would they be?

There were just three fatalities yesterday and in recent weeks Covid has accounted for no more than a tiny fraction of deaths from all causes.

So double vaccinating millions who are at next to no risk may be good public relations but it’s unlikely to have any substantial effect on death rates.

Yet thousands more are likely to die from non-Covid conditions because of the baleful effects of lockdown on the NHS. Where is the sense of proportion? True, those who have refused the vaccine are at increased risk from a more transmissible variant.

But they have made their choice and must accept the consequences.

Their inhibitions cannot be allowed to trump the fundamental freedoms – and overall good health – of the vast majority.

Meanwhile, there were howls of pain and rage yesterday from the hospitality and travel industries at yet another body blow.

The live music and nightclub businesses alone have already made 600,000 of their 1.5 million employees redundant. Many are on the brink and even a four-week delay will push them into the abyss.

Add to that the massive toll on travel and retail and you have a recipe for total economic disaster.

Public opinion may be on the side of caution right now. But if the economy is not firing on all cylinders by the end of furlough, a huge spike in joblessness will soon change all that.

Mr Johnson has always said he would be guided by the science. Has he now been captured by it?

Flanked by his chief scientific advisers Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance yesterday, he looked every inch the prisoner under guard.

Even after Mr Whitty revealed that a double dose reduced the risk of hospitalisation from the Indian variant by up to 98 per cent, the PM still refused to acknowledge that the link between vaccination and hospitalisation had been broken. How much proof does he need?

The fact is that Covid will always be a risk. It’s here to stay and the world must learn to live with it – in all its variations.

Until Mr Johnson and his gaolers accept that, we may never live in a truly open society again.