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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
World
Sophie McCoid

Government 'doing everything it can' so people can have holiday

The government has insisted it is doing "everything we can" to make sure people can go on holiday this summer.

Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock have both previously said they are looking forward to a "great British summer" this year.

But when people have asked if they should be booking holidays in the UK and abroad for this summer some members of government have discouraged people from doing so.

Today the Prime Minister's official spokesman said that there was still hope for summer holidays, but that it was too soon to make firm decisions.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "Of course we are doing everything we can to make sure people can have a holiday this summer, and we know that people are keen for certainty, but we are unfortunately not in a position to set out more detail at the moment.

"The Prime Minister said yesterday it is too early for people to be certain about what we will be able to do this summer.

"And again I would point to the roadmap that we will publish the week after next that will provide more detail in terms of the easements that we are looking to introduce, but again that will be based on the review we undertake next week."

The spokesman said Boris Johnson has not yet booked a summer holiday.

They said: "I am sure the Prime Minister, along with everybody else, is obviously keen to have a break over the summer but he hasn't got one planned."

Earlier today Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the rollout of coronavirus vaccines is "absolutely essential" for summer holidays to take place.

Mr Hancock, who has already booked a break in Cornwall, urged people to be "patient" over the prospect of getting away.

Find your nearest vaccination centre by entering your postcode below

He told BBC Breakfast: "I know that people are yearning for certainty over whether they can have a summer holiday, but pandemics are difficult times and there is a lot of uncertainty, so I am afraid that people will have to be patient before we can get that certainty.

"We are doing everything that we possibly can to make sure that people can have a holiday this summer but the vaccine rollout is absolutely essential to that.

"We will set out more in more detail when we can, but at the moment unfortunately there is that uncertainty still."

He told Sky: "We are doing everything we can to make sure people can have that holiday in the summer and, even before then, to be able to see their loved ones.

"Even before we get to whether we're going on holiday or where we're going on holiday, how soon we can see and hug our loved ones is important."

He said because take-up of the vaccine was so high, "that will all help us get out of this and help us get back to normal".

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