‘We need to see light at the end of the tunnel’: Boris Johnson’s sister urges him to reveal plans for how the UK will leave coronavirus lockdown
- Rachel Johnson made the comments on her new Friday evening show on LBC
- ‘We need to see light at the end of the tunnel,’ she told listeners today
- Ministers are looking at whether to relax the strict ‘stay at home’ advice
- Prime Minister Boris Johnson planning to return to Downing Street on Monday
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
The Prime Minister’s sister Rachel Johnson has urged him to reveal plans for how the UK will leave coronavirus lockdown, saying: ‘We need to see a light at the end of the tunnel’.
It comes as the government considers an easing of lockdown rules which could allow people to socialise with up to ten of their closest family and friends.
Rachel Johnson made the comments on her new Friday evening show on LBC.
Rachel Johnson joined the talk radio station LBC to present a new Friday evening programme
She told listeners: ‘I think it’s time for a more honest, grown-up conversation about what’s going to happen. We need to see light at the end of the tunnel.’
She continued: ‘I understand we have to stay at home to protect the NHS, to save lives.
‘But we won’t forget the rules just because we know they might be lifted. We are adults, we can hold two thoughts in our head at the same time.
‘We should be treated like adults.’
Her comments came as the Covid-19 death toll hit 19,506 on Friday – up 684 on the previous day.
Ministers are looking at whether to relax the strict ‘stay at home’ advice to let small groups of households ‘cluster’ together.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks at 10 Downing Street after being discharged from hospital in London, Britain, on April 12. He is planning to return to Downing Street on Monday, less than three weeks after leaving the intensive care unit of St Thomas’ Hospital
It would allow close family members to meet for meals, or enable friends to share childcare. It could also allow couples who do not live together to see each other.
Ministers are still grappling with how to enforce the new system and prevent a free-for-all that could allow the coronavirus epidemic to take hold again.
A Whitehall source said: ‘If we can find a way to allow a bit more flexibility without risking transmission of the disease running higher then we will do it.’
Health Secretary Matt Hancock yesterday warned the government would not ease lockdown restrictions until ministers were certain they could prevent a deadly second wave of infection.
Brits enjoyed the warm weather yesterday at London Fields, pictured, despite continued government guidance to stay at home
He said this would not be possible until the number of cases was driven ‘right down’. Mr Hancock said he understood the ‘economic pressures’ the lockdown was causing, but warned they would be even worse if the UK suffered a second peak of the epidemic.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is planning to return to Downing Street on Monday, less than three weeks after leaving the intensive care unit of St Thomas’ Hospital.