BORIS Johnson’s decision about whether to unlock early on July 5 will be announced on Monday, Downing Street confirmed this afternoon.
The PM is today poring over crucial data ahead of giving his crunch verdict next week.
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He is likely to crush hopes of bringing forward Freedom Day and stick with his “terminus date” of July 19.
When Mr Johnson announced his four-week delay to the roadmap last week he wrote in a two-week break point to allow wriggle room from an early release.
No10 said today a decision on whether to pull this trigger will be made on Monday.
The PM’s spokesperson said: “Monday will be the day when we were deciding on the decision on that and we are closely monitoring the data, ahead of providing a full update.
“We will set out very clearly to the public, the rationale for the decision we’ve made.”
No10 said earlier that the PM told Cabinet earlier that his roadmap was “irreversiable” and said he was looking at the data daily.
A spokesperson said: “Cabinet concluded with a discussion on our ongoing response to Covid-19.
“The Prime Minister reemphasised the government’s determination to ensure the roadmap is irreversible and said he was constantly reviewing the data on cases, hospitalisations and deaths ahead of a decision on Step 4.”
It came as:
Earlier Chancellor Rishi Sunak told MPs it is his “hope and expectation” that July 19 will see the end of Covid rules.
He said in the Commons: “By that point we will have done what we set out to do, which is to get extra jabs in more people’s arms to provide us with that extra level of protection we were seeking.”
Mr Sunak added: “The only sustainable way to protect those jobs is to get the economy reopened so those people can return to work and provide for their families.”
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