Boris Johnson has signalled that the legal requirement to wear face masks in England will be scrapped from July 19.
He said the curb, which applies in some indoor settings, would go if the UK Government approves "step four" of lockdown easing next week.
He also said "it would depend on the circumstances" whether he would wear a mask once it becomes voluntary.
However the move, which would see shoppers and people on crowded public transport not having to wear masks, is facing a backlash.
A new YouGov poll has found that 71% of people want face masks to continue to be mandatory on public transport. Two thirds want them for shops.
Johnson said told a Downing Street press conference: “We will move away from legal restrictions and allow people to make their own informed decisions about how to manage the virus.”
Johnson said we must “balance the risk” of the disease from the virus and the harm from continuing with legal restrictions which “inevitably take their toll on people’s lives and livelihoods, on people’s health and mental health”.
He added: “And we must be honest with ourselves that if we can’t reopen our society in the next few weeks, when we will be helped by the arrival of summer, and by the school holidays, then we must ask ourselves ‘when will we be able to return to normal?’
“And to those who say we should delay again – the alternative to that is to open up in winter when the virus will have an advantage, or not at all this year.”
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham urged the Government to retain the requirement to wear a face covering in “locations where people don’t have a choice to go”, such as public transport and supermarkets.
Some organisations could still make face coverings a condition of carriage, but Burnham said he would not do that on Manchester’s tram network, adding: “I just don’t think it would work”.
Meanwhile UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the Government is considering whether to give a booster vaccine along with the flu jab over the winter.
He told MPs: “Because of the measures in place this winter, almost nobody in the UK had flu for 18 months now, that’s obviously a good thing but it does mean that immunity from flu is down. This winter’s flu campaign will be more important than ever and we’re currently looking at whether we can give people the Covid-19 booster shot and the flu jab at the same time.”
He said the most vulnerable would be offered a third dose from September.
