Boris Johnson promises to end social distancing ‘within a year’
6 October 2020, 13:53 | Updated: 6 October 2020, 14:03
The Prime Minister has said the next time he holds the Conservative conference, it will be 'face-to-face'.
Boris Johnson has vowed to end social distancing by October 2021.
Delivering his yearly Conservative conference speech, the Prime Minister said he'll work ‘night and day’ to get rid of coronavirus by next autumn.
"It is not going to hold us back, slow us down, and we are certainly not going to let us get us down... even in the darkest moments," he said, adding: "I have had more than enough of this disease."
Johnson then pledged: “With the help of weekly and almost daily improvements in the medicine and the science, we will ensure that next time we meet it will be face-to-face and cheek-by-jowl.”
Read More: Primary school slammed for forcing kids to wear school uniform for online lessons
This comes after the Prime Minister announced that current coronavirus lockdown rules will most likely be in place for six months, which would take us to March 2021.
In England, people from different households are only allowed to mix in groups of six or less, while those who are not in a ‘bubble’ together must stay at least one metre apart at all times.
Elsewhere in his speech, the PM also said he is determined to make Britain the ‘greatest place on earth’ with his plans beyond Covid-19.
Boris Johnson’s address to the nation on coronavirus
He set out his vision for the country in 2030, insisting that the pandemic must be a ‘trigger for economic and social change on the scale of the new Jerusalem’.
The Prime Minister vowed: "Long-term failure to tackle the deficit in skills, inadequate transport infrastructure, not enough homes people could afford to buy, especially young people.
"And far too many people across the whole country who felt ignored and left out, that the government was not on their side.
"And so we can't now define the mission of this country as merely to restore normality, that isn't good enough.
Son told off for moving chair to comfort heartbroken mother during father’s funeral
"In the depths of the Second World War, when just about everything had gone wrong, the government sketched out a vision of the post-war new Jerusalem that they wanted to build, and that is what we're doing now, in the teeth of this pandemic."
Johnson went on to say that he will change ‘generation rent into generation buy’ with his plans for 95% mortgages for first-time buyers who can't afford a deposit.
Addressing recent concerns about climate change, the PM said offshore will be powering every home in the country within ten years thanks to a £160m investment to upgrade ports and factories for building turbines.
He said: “It isn’t enough just to go back to normal, we have lost too much, we have mourned too many, we have been through too much hardship to settle back for the status quo ante, to think life can go on as it did before the plague.”
