Chancellor Rishi Sunak has admitted he argued against a circuit-breaker lockdown in September, which scientists said was necessary to head off a second wave.
Mr Sunak said it was his job to think about the country’s finances and that another lockdown would have been bad for the economy. But, appearing to shift the blame onto Boris Johnson, he said the choice to ignore Sage’s recommendation was ultimately the PM’s.
“Just remember what my job is. In the same way that you’d expect the education secretary to feed in about this on the impact on children’s education and learning, you’d expect me to talk about the impact on people’s jobs and livelihoods,” he told ITV’s Peston programme.
“Ultimately things that are bad for the economy are bad for our long term health as well and our ability to fund things like the NHS,” he added.
Elsewhere French president Emmanuel Macron has announced stricter lockdown measures in response to a continuing surge of Covid-19 cases. In a televised address on Wednesday evening, Mr Macron said confinement measures that were already in place in Paris and 19 other departments would be extended nationwide for four weeks from Saturday.
These measures include a 7pm curfew, a 10km travel restriction and the closure of all non-essential shops. Schools and nurseries will also be closed for three weeks from 12 April.
Meanwhile in Wales Gyms, leisure centres and fitness facilities in are set to reopen from 10 May. A fresh set of dates for the easing of coronavirus restrictions also includes allowing organised outdoor activities and outdoor wedding receptions, both limited to 30 people, from 3 May.
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