THE Prime Minister will hold a press conference later today announcing whether all remaining lockdown restrictions will be lifted. 

Boris Johnson will address the nation at 6pm where he is expected to confirm that the easing of lockdown restrictions will be delayed beyond June 21.

The PM will be joined by England’s chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, and the Government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance.

Sources have this morning suggested that senior ministers have already signed off a plan to delay the easing of restrictions by another four weeks.

The anticipated move follows warnings from scientists that the rapid spread of the Delta variant first identified in India risks a “substantial” third wave if it is allowed to spread unchecked.

In his statement, the PM is expected to appeal to the public to show patience, with one last push to ensure that when controls do finally end it is “irreversible”.

However, such an announcement will come as a major setback to many businesses – particularly in hospitality – who had pinned hopes on a full summer reopening to recoup some losses of the past year.

There has since been deep frustration among lockdown sceptics on the Conservative benches who said there was no reason not to end the restrictions as those most at risk of death or serious illness are now fully vaccinated.

Former minister Mark Harper, the chairman of the Covid Recovery Group (CRG) of Tory MPs, said any postponement would be a “political choice”.

He warned that if the unlocking did not go ahead as planned, restrictions could carry on through the autumn and into the winter as other respiratory infections picked up.

“The effectiveness of our vaccines at preventing hospitalisation means unlocking on June 21 could proceed safely. Any decision to delay will be a political choice,” he said.

“Variants and mutations will appear for the rest of time. We have to learn to live with it.

“If our very effective vaccines cannot deliver us freedom from restrictions, then nothing ever will.”

Conservative backbencher Marcus Fysh said delay was a “disastrous and unacceptable policy”.

Mr Johnson is expected to make the formal announcement at a press conference on Monday evening after he returns to Downing Street from attending the Nato summit in Brussels.

After hosting the G7 summit in Cornwall over the weekend, the Prime Minister is thought to have spent Sunday evening going through the latest data with the senior ministers and officials most closely involved in the process.

The so-called “quad” of Mr Johnson, Chancellor Rishi Sunak, Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove were reported to have been briefed by the chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty and the chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance.

The latest daily Government figures from Sunday showed another rise in infections with a further 7,490 lab-confirmed cases in the UK – up 2,149 from a figure of 5,341 the previous week.

The data also had England with a total of 35,971 positive tests in the past seven days at a rate of 63.9 per 100,000 people.

UK ministers have insisted they remain on course to get an offer of a second dose of the vaccine – which gives significantly greater protection against the Delta variant than a single jab – to all over 50s by June 21.

However, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab indicated at the weekend that they wanted to use the additional time to get millions more younger people double-jabbed.

He said that while the vaccines had weakened the link between infections and hospital admissions, they wanted to be sure it was “severed and broken”.

The cautious approach was, he said, necessary to ensure the the unlocking was “irreversible” and that they did not have to “yo-yo back in and out of measures”.