On today’s (December 1) GMB, Sajid Javid said that he “can’t guarantee” there won’t be another Christmas lockdown this year amid latest news.
The Health Secretary appeared on Good Morning Britain to address confusion over Christmas after Prime Minister Boris Johnson contradicted advice. The PM told people not to cancel their Christmas plans.
Why did Sajid Javid appear on GMB today?
Before interviewing Sajid Javid, GMB host Susanna Reid quoted the Prime Minister.
“Do not cancel your Christmas plans this year,” she said. “That’s according to the Prime Minister, and it contradicts the advice of the boss of the UK Health Security Agency, Dr Jenny Harries.”
Susanna and co-host Robert Rinder then welcomed Health Secretary Sajid Javid onto the show. The GMB hosts then proceeded to ask him about rumours that the Prime Minister had flouted lockdown rules last Christmas by hosting a crowded party in 10 Downing Street.
Sajid Javid denied the rumours, stating that no party had taken place.
“Okay, so let’s talk about this Christmas,” Susanna said, moving the conversation along. “Dr Jenny Harries has said ‘please don’t socialise when you don’t need to.'”
“Is that the case? Is that what you would back?” she asked the Health Secretary.
What did the Health Secretary say about Christmas?
“I think people can go about their business, whether that’s socialising or otherwise, as long as they are following the rules,” Sajid said. He then went on to say that if people have gatherings or business meetings planned, then they should go ahead, as long as Covid rules are followed.
“Just to be clear, the Prime Minister didn’t want to rule out and cancel Christmas […] but he said he doesn’t rule anything out,” Rob Rinder said. “Health Secretary, speaking to millions of viewers out there, can you confidently say there will not be another lockdown this Christmas?”
Sajid Javid answered, saying: “What I’ve learnt in my few months as Health Secretary is there are no guarantees in this pandemic. I think the likelihood of such a thing happening is very, very, very low.”
However, the Health Secretary continued saying: “But what we can’t rule out is any particular measure at this point in time because we always need to look at the data in front of us and do what we can to protect the British people.”
What else did Sajid Javid say on GMB?
GMB news
The Health Secretary then told the hosts of GMB that the biggest weapon in the pandemic is the vaccine. However, he said that they were still looking to see how effective the vaccine will be against the new variant. Mr Javid then said that this is why the recently announced booster programme is so important.
“We’ve had the most successful booster programme of any European country so far – over 18 million boosts done already,” he said.
Sajid Javid then said that they want to offer the booster to the whole adult population by the end of January 2022.
Read more: Susanna Reid slams Good Morning Britain viewers who attacked Robert Rinder for crying
Ending the interview, Susanna said: “It will be significant to people watching that you have basically said you cannot guarantee that there will be no lockdown over Christmas.”
“Just to be clear,” Sajid replied, “I don’t think there will be any lockdown whether it’s over Christmas or in the future, I don’t think that’s a plan for anyone.”
The Health Secretary concluded the GMB interview by saying that they will be able to decide what to do next once they’ve looked more into the new variant.
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