Boris Johnson said he had not taken a decision on whether there would be a return to the tier system following the lockdown, and a national approach was an option.
The PM told reporters: “It may be that a national approach, going down the tiers in a national way, might be better this time round, given that the disease is behaving much more nationally.
“If you look at the way the new variant has taken off across the country, it’s a pretty national phenomenon.
“The charts I see, we’re all sort of moving pretty much in the same sort of way, I mean there are a few discrepancies, a few differences, so it may be that we will go for a national approach but there may be an advantage still in some regional differentiation as well. I’m keeping an open mind on that.”
Mr Johnson said repairing any damage caused to children’s education was the “biggest challenge” for the Government and said he was “lost in admiration” at the efforts of parents home-schooling their children.
He said to reporters in Batley, West Yorkshire: “I think this is the biggest challenge for the Government at the moment, it’s not just the vaccine rollout, not just the NHS difficulties, which remain very severe, but making up that shortfall in education.
“We want to repair any damage or any loss, any detriment to kids’ education as fast as possible.”
