Boris Johnson hopes schools will reopen from 8 March

The prime minister Boris Johnson has said he hopes it will be safe to reopen schools in England from 8 March.

Addressing the Commons, Boris Johnson spoke of plans for easing lockdown from 22 February but confirmed pupils will not be returning to the classroom after the February half-term.

Johnson said that reopening schools will be a priority as lockdown is eased.

Schools in England have been closed for most pupils during the third COVID-19 lockdown. A return in February was suggested at the time, but the government has refused to give a firm date for primary schools returning.

Boris Johnson told a Downing Street news conference: "The date of 8 March is the earliest that we think it is sensible to set for schools to go back and obviously we hope that all schools will go back."

"I'm hopeful, but that's the earliest that we can do it and it depends on lots of things going right, and... it also depends on us all now continuing to work together to drive down the incidence of the disease through the basic methods we've used throughout this pandemic," he added.

It is hoped that if the target of vaccinating everyone in the top four prioritisation cohorts by 15 February is met, then those groups will have developed immunity three weeks later, by 8 March. The government will therefore look at fully re-opening schools from this date.