Today [Tuesday 19 July] is expected to be the Prime Minister’s
last scheduled Cabinet.
Ministers will discuss the effects of the heatwave and plans the
Government has been working on putting in place to mitigate
disruption. The Prime Minister is expected to praise the
resilience shown by our public sector, as the majority of schools
remain open and the NHS continues to care for patients.
The Prime Minister will also mark one year on from England moving
to Step 4 of the covid roadmap.
The pandemic was the greatest global threat to public health and
the NHS in over a century. When covid-19 first emerged, we had no
vaccines and limited knowledge of pharmaceutical defences against
covid, instead having to rely on blunt public health measures
that restricted freedoms.
Ministers will today look back at the creation and delivery of
our world-leading vaccination programme which allowed us to
return to normal life, and the continued ability of our NHS to
deliver through the pandemic and current challenge posed by the
heatwave.
Speaking ahead of Cabinet, the Prime Minister is expected
to say:
“We were the first country in the world to administer
approved vaccines. Thanks to our scientists, NHS and volunteers
who jabbed millions of arms, we built the strongest possible wall
of defence and were able to safely open up our economy.”
The extraordinary efforts from international scientists, the NHS,
and the public for coming forward to get jabbed meant that our
roadmap was able to begin in spring 2021, with nearly 757,000
vaccines administered in a single day in March.
By 19 July, nearly 39 million first doses had been given and over
30 million second doses, and the majority of restrictions were
lifted. Friends and families were fully reunited with no limit on
group numbers, all businesses could reopen, and the public were
encouraged to stay safe by listening to public health advice.
The decision to move to each step in the Roadmap was based on
careful analysis of all available data, balancing the risk of
unlocking with the number of people successfully jabbed, and the
damage that prolonging restrictions would cause to our economy
and peoples well-being.
Despite this careful analysis the Prime Minister will remind
Cabinet that some voices remained opposed to move to Step 4. The
government were proved right as our vaccination programme kept us
and the NHS protected throughout the summer and autumn, followed
by the Get Boosted Now campaign following the emergence of
Omicron.
Throughout the pandemic, we took bold action to protect jobs,
businesses and livelihoods, and this meant the UK had the fastest
growth in the G7 in 2021.
Our covid loan schemes helped more than 1.5 million businesses
secure finance worth nearly £80bn and 11.7 million jobs and 1.3
million employers were supported by our world-leading furlough
scheme.
Many businesses would not have survived - and jobs would have
been lost - without our Business Grant Support which totalled
£27bn. Thanks to government support, unemployment peaked at just
5.2% and has since fallen, despite forecasts of up to 12%.
Cases are now rising due to two new sub-lineages, BA.4 and BA.5,
but we are not seeing the same rapid increase in admissions to
critical care and deaths due to the booster programme. Everyone
who is eligible for a spring booster but has not yet come forward
is encouraged to do so.
The Prime Minister will reflect on the lives lost to covid and
will express his deepest condolences to their friends and family.
He is expected to reiterate that although we have navigated
through lockdowns and the rollout of our early vaccination
programmes, we must continue to focus on future preparations and
boost our pharmaceutical defences.
Speaking ahead of Cabinet, the Prime Minister
said:
“One year on from a successful reopening, we can reflect on
what our brilliant NHS and country and has achieved, and we
should be proud of how far we have come. Without our excellent
scientists and clinicians, and everyone who came forward for
their vaccine, we would have been in for a longer and bumpier
road.”
