THE Prime Minister addressed the nation this evening, outlining the government’s roadmap plan to ensure the country does not ‘persist indefinitely’ with restrictions.

He outlined the four-step roadmap the government will use to ease restrictions across England and provide a route back to ‘normality’. He reiterated that each step will be assessed against four tests before restrictions ease, and this will begin with the return of schools on March 8 which will benefit from ‘twice weekly testing’.

During the press conference, broadcast at 7pm today (Monday), Mr Johnson said: “I know there are some that would like to accelerate the timetable, I know of course there are others who would like to be more cautious and stay in the slow lane, and I understand both points of view, and I sympathise because levels of infection are still high, and we must strike a very careful balance and always accept that we have to be humble in the face of nature.

“But also, we must accept that we cannot persist indefinitely with restrictions that have separated families and loved ones for too long, threatened the livelihoods of millions and kept pupils out of school.”

He offered hope for the future, concluding: “It’s thanks to the roll out of these vaccinations, many of them pioneered in this country, that the balance of that judgement is now changing in our favour and thanks to the vaccination that there is light ahead, leading us to a spring and summer which I think will be seasons of hope, looking and feeling incomparably better for us all and from which we will not go back.”