Lord Blunkett: It's defeat if schools aren't open by February
22 December 2020, 14:49
Lord Blunkett: It's defeat if schools aren't open by February
With confusion over when schools might reopen following the Christmas break, Lord Blunkett told LBC Boris Johnson will have been defeated if schools aren't open by February.
Speaking to Nick Ferrari the peer pointed out that when Home Secretary Priti Patel spoke LBC earlier she said schools would reopen "in January," but did not give a firm date.
On Monday the Prime Minister refused to guarantee that schools in England will reopen after Christmas, saying "we want, if we possibly can, to get schools back in a staggered way at the beginning of January" but "the commonsensical thing to do is to follow the path of the epidemic".
But less than 24 hours later Home Secretary Priti Patel there is 'no doubt' pupils will return to schools in January, after the Christmas break.
Lord Blunkett said, "there are five weeks in January if we have reached February and the schools aren't fully open I think we will really have accepted defeat."
Branding the messages around Christmas rules "stark," the former Education Secretary said he knew people who were spending Christmas alone.
