Boris Johnson has confirmed there will be a further easing of the lockdown from July 4 – including ditching the two-metre rule and allowing two households of whatever size to meet up inside.

The PM said each step to ease lockdown will be ‘conditional’ and ‘reversible’ as he made a statement to MPs in the House of Commons.

Mr Johnson said that from July 4, two households of any size will be able to mix indoors at a time – but it must be the same two households each time they meet.

He said: ‘From now on, we will ask people to follow guidance on social contact instead of legislation. In that spirit, we advise that from July 4, two households of any size should be able to meet in any setting inside or out.

‘That does not mean they must always be the same two households, it will be possible for instance to meet one set of grandparents one weekend, the others the following weekend.

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‘But we are not recommending meetings of multiple households indoors because of the risk of creating greater chains of transmission.’

Outside, the guidance remains that people from several households can meet in groups of up to six, the Prime Minister said.

He also announced today that there will be a ‘one-metre-plus’ rule, where people will be advised to keep two metres apart where possible, but where it is not, they should keep ‘one metre plus’. 

One metre plus means that in circumstances where two metres cannot be kept, there should be other mitigating factors. This includes wearing a face mask on public transport, hand washing, screens, limiting time with people and being outdoors. 

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