Ministers contradict each other over summer holiday lockdown plans

It comes after Shapps poured cold water on Blackpool’s Lights season being extended until January 3 after having its Switch-On on Friday, September 3.

While the resort’s tourism boss Coun Gillian Campbell said of last year’s Illuminations, which were cut short due to the second and third lockdown, “all the evidence showed that there was a huge appetite for the public to visit the Illuminations in a safe and enjoyable way”, Shapps said: “People shouldn’t be booking holidays right now – not domestically or internationally”.

But Hancock said: “We are doing everything that we possibly can to make sure people can have a holiday this summer,” though he cautioned: “The vaccine rollout is absolutely essential to that.”

Admitting there is still “uncertainty”, a remark that echoed Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s warning it is “too early for people to be certain about what we will be able to do this summer”, Hancock added: “I know that people are yearning for certainty over whether they can have a summer holiday.

“But pandemics are difficult times and there is a lot of uncertainty, so I am afraid that people will have to be patient before we can get that certainty.”

Holidays are banned under the UK’s Covid-19 lockdown, but the travel industry is desperate for rules to be relaxed in time for the vital summer season.

Coun Campbell said: “We know from all the feedback we received that, amid so much gloom, the Illuminations provided a much-needed tonic to so many people. We are making this decision early so our businesses can start to plan for the extended season.”