The roadmap out of lockdown is still set to see May relaxation says Prime Minister with a "good chance" the one-metre plus social distancing could be scrapped in June.

During a campaign trip to Hartlepool, Boris Johnson today told reporters that he believes the country "will be able to go ahead" with May 17 opening while the one-metre plus rule could disappear next month as long as the virus remains under control.

The Prime Minister told reporters: “As things stand, and the way things are going, with the vaccine rollout going the way that it is – we have done 50 million jabs as I speak to you today, quarter of the adult population, one in four have had two jabs.

“You are seeing the results of that really starting to show up in the epidemiology.

“I think that we will be able to go ahead, feels like May 17 is going to be good.

“But it also looks to me as though June 21 we’ll be able to say social distancing as we currently have to do it, the one-metre plus, I think we have got a good chance of being able to dispense with the one-metre plus from June 21.

“That is still dependent on the data, we can’t say it categorically yet, we have got to look at the epidemiology as we progress, we have got to look at where we get to with the disease. But that’s what it feels like to me right now.”

Looking further forward, the Prime Minister remains cautious on particular aspects of the lockdown lifting such as foreign holiday plans.

Mr Johnson said that he did not want to see an “influx of disease” once international travel resumes, which is why the Government is being “as cautious as we can” with the road map.

Asked if people should be planning foreign holidays, he told reporters: “We will be saying more as soon as we can.

“I think that there will be some openings up on the 17th, but we have got to be cautious and we have got to be sensible and we have got to make sure that we don’t see the virus coming back in.”