UK lockdown: Shops could reopen from June, says Boris Johnson

‘Although we have a plan, it is a conditional plan’

Shops in England may start to reopen in June as part of a phased easing of lockdown restrictions put in place in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

In a speech on Sunday evening, Boris Johnson announced a plan to ease restrictions, including seeing shops and schools in England tentatively reopen from June at the earliest – provided that infections and the reproduction rate of the disease – the R – remain low.

“In step two – at the earliest by June 1 – after half term – we believe we may be in a position to begin the phased reopening of shops and to get primary pupils back into schools, in stages, beginning with reception, Year 1 and Year 6,” he said.

“Our ambition is that secondary pupils facing exams next year will get at least some time with their teachers before the holidays. And we will shortly be setting out detailed guidance on how to make it work in schools and shops and on transport.”

Since the lockdown was introduced in March, only shops selling essential items have been permitted to remain open, but this could change from June – although the prime minister stressed that this was a conditional suggestion of “what we could do”.

“And I stress could,” Mr Johnson said. “Because although we have a plan, it is a conditional plan.

“And since our priority is to protect the public and save lives, we cannot move forward unless we satisfy the five tests. We must protect our NHS. We must see sustained falls in the death rate. We must see sustained and considerable falls in the rate of infection. We must sort out our challenges in getting enough PPE to the people who need it, and yes, it is a global problem but we must fix it.

“And last, we must make sure that any measures we take do not force the reproduction rate of the disease – the R – back up over one, so that we have the kind of exponential growth we were facing a few weeks ago.”