Boris to decide ‘roadmap to recovery’ after lockdown based on dossier of evidence handed to him tonight

BORIS Johnson will be handed a dossier of data as early as tonight to help him decide the speed of his "Roadmap to Recovery" blueprint.

The PM will use the numbers to shape his official plan to ease lockdown, to be published on Monday.

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Mr Johnson yesterday vowed to be driven by data not dates in his “cautious and prudent” lifting of Covid restrictions, starting on March 8 with reopening schools.

But The Sun understands the document will also mention other specific dates as the earliest possible opportunity for shops and pubs to reopen if cases continue to fall and vaccinations lead to a decline in deaths.

The PM is due to receive the up-to-date analysis by tomorrow morning at the latest. It will show for the first time how effective the Oxford jab has been.

He will then crunch those numbers to finalise the roadmap with a core team of Cabinet ministers and aides over the weekend.

It is expected that the document will be put before the full Cabinet on Monday morning to rubber stamp and then be presented to MPs at lunchtime.

Mr Johnson will address the nation later at a Monday evening press conference.

Last week’s data showed just one dose of the Pfizer vaccine provided two-thirds protection against the virus, boosting hopes of a swift return to normality.

And Government scientists at Public Health England hope the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab will have similarly positive results to present ahead of the weekend.

Ministers are also delighted at data from Israel showing a direct link between vaccines and plummeting hospital and death rates.

During a visit to South Wales yesterday, the PM warned he was going to take things slowly because he did not want another lockdown.

He told reporters: “We’ll be setting out what we can on Monday about the way ahead, and it’ll be based firmly on a cautious and prudent approach to coming out of lockdown in such a way as to be irreversible.”

TENSIONS RAMP UP

Mr Johnson is facing growing pressure over when to restart the hospitality industry.

Big pub chains — who have less to lose — are happy to wait a little longer until they can fully open.

They fear that if they are allowed to open outdoors before fully reopening inside, their support from the Treasury could be cut off.

The Sun can reveal tension boiled over earlier in the week when pub bosses stormed out of meetings with ministers when they were accused of leaking government roadmap plans.

Landlords have stopped engaging with officials and ministers at the Business Department after tensions over reopening the hospitality industry ramped up.

Some pub bosses are urging ministers to rethink opening outdoor areas in April — as many would be unable to turn a profit if they lost government support.

They want boozers to open at the same time as non-essential shops.

Greg Mulholland, of the Campaign for Pubs, said: “Outdoor-only opening is simply not profitable for thousands of pubs, indeed most pubs, and Government support must continue until pubs can open profitably, without rules and restrictions that make that impossible.

“What we now need is certainty over when pubs can reopen indoors with household mixing and no curfew or restriction on dining.”

British Beer & Pub Association boss Emma McClarkin, said 29,000 boozers would stay shut if service was allowed only outdoors.

What we now need is certainty over when pubs can reopen indoors.

Greg Mulholland

She added: “Even if some pubs did try and open outdoors only in April, all it would take is some heavy rain and they would find it has all been for nothing.”

Richard Bailey, chairman of the Thwaites pub group accused the PM of betrayal, saying: “Once again the pubs of this nation will be made a scapegoat in the reopening plan.”

It comes as 40 MPs warn the PM and Chancellor Rishi Sunak that British nightlife faces extinction without a plan and more support.

Labour’s Jeff Smith, who chairs a cross party group of MPs on the night-time economy, said it could lead to town and city centres resembling ghost towns.

Boris Johnson joked that he felt like OJ Simpson as he struggled to pull on a pair of gloves.

The PM was referring to OJ’s murder trial when the US star had difficulty putting on gloves thought to have been used in the killings.

Mr Johnson made the quip on a visit to a vaccination centre in Cwmbran, Torfaen.