Monday evening UK news briefing: Today’s top headlines from The Telegraph

Monday evening UK news briefing: Today’s top headlines from The Telegraph

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Johnson announces four-step exit plan from lockdown

Boris Johnson has announced a gradual roadmap for reopening England that will see Covid-19 restrictions eased over four steps spread across at least four months. The plans will be underpinned by four key "tests" that are linked to data, which will act like a checklist that must be met before moving onto the next step of reopening. Addressing MPs in Parliament, Boris Johnson said "today the end really is in sight" as he announced:

The four steps are separated five weeks apart. That leaves four weeks to monitor the impact of the preceding step and one week to give people notice. The reopening is designed to happen uniformly across England, with no return to the tier system. Read the full timings here. Ross Clark fears that, at this rate, Britain will be the first country in Europe to vaccinate its population but the last to reopen. Mr Johnson will hold a Downing Street press conference at 7pm. Follow it live here.

Vaccine passports a possibility to reopen the economy

Mr Johnson also announced vaccine certificates could be introduced to