Boris Johnson promises businesses new lockdown will end on 2 December
Prime Minister Boris Johnson reassured British businesses that the new lockdown in England will end on 2 December during a speech to the CBI today, but later said it would “depend on us all doing our bit”.
Johnson announced a new month-long lockdown at the weekend. It will come into place tomorrow and will see pubs, restaurants, gyms and non-essential shops close.
There was some confusion over the possibility of an extension to the lockdown, however. Senior minister Michael Gove said it could go on for longer, but Johnson told his cabinet yesterday that the date is a hard deadline.
He repeated that promise today, telling the CBI conference: “Believe me, we will end these autumn measures on 2 December when they expire.”
Yet Johnson then appeared to give himself some wiggle room at prime minister’s questions.
He told MPs: “These autumn measures to combat the surge will expire automatically on 2 December. And then… I hope very much to be able to get the country going again, to get businesses, to get the shops [going] in time for Christmas.”
However, he said this would “depend on us all doing our bit now to get the R-rate down”.
The pledge to end the lockdown on 2 December could make life difficult for Johnson if coronavirus cases do not drop under the new measures. It would be another U-turn in a long series during the pandemic, many of which have frustrated businesses.
Having missed his original slot at the CBI conference on Monday, Johnson sent a pre-recorded message to be played at the virtual event. The CBI – the Confederation of British Industry – is one of the UK’s leading business lobby groups.
Prime Minister apologises for new lockdown
Johnson sought to reassure businesses that government was on their side, after facing criticism from some quarters over the weekend.
In her opening remarks at the conference on Monday, departing CBI chief Dame Carolyn Fairbairn said: “We need politicians to be listening, for the government to be listening like never before.”
Today, Johnson said: “I want to apologise to all of you who are experiencing the frustrations and the nightmare of the Covid world.”
He said the UK is “in a far better position than we were during the first wave”. This was thanks to better medicines, the hope of a vaccine and faster testing.
He flagged the government’s latest push on rapid testing as key to tackling the pandemic. “Next week we will begin a huge programme of rapid turnaround testing starting with the great city of Liverpool,” he said.
Johnson said this would be key to bringing down the rate of infection and getting the economy “motoring again”.