Sunday shows round-up: ‘Grotesque’ to suggest the PM skipped meetings, says Gove

Michael Gove – Government is not thinking about lifting lockdown restrictions yet

Sophy Ridge began the morning interviewing the Cabinet Office Minister, Michael Gove. On Thursday, the government announced it would be extending the UK’s lockdown for a further three weeks to best tackle Covid-19. Gove downplayed reports that the government had drawn up a three-stage plan to end the lockdown, and explicitly quashed the idea that schools could be open again from mid-May. Instead, he told Ridge that the government’s efforts would continue to be guided by the science, and would not be drawn on a timescale:

MG: We’ve set some tests which need to be passed before we can think of easing restrictions in this lockdown… We do not want to take steps too early because the most important thing is to make sure that the NHS and public’s health is protected… We should not be thinking of lifting these restrictions yet.