Boris says ‘schools are safe’ and children should go back ‘where open’

Parents in England should send their children back to the classroom tomorrow if they can, said the prime minister.

Boris Johnson urged parents to send their children to school on Monday ‘in areas where schools are open’.

He said: ‘They should be guided by the public health advice, which at the moment is that schools are safe, where we’re not bing driven by the new variant, where children’s education is priority… We have to be humble in the face of the impact of this new variant’.

The PM said this means ‘we face a very difficult’ few weeks and months ahead until the vaccines ‘come on stream in a massive way’.

It comes after the head of England’s schools watchdog said children’s education ‘cannot be furloughed’ amid school closures.

This is a breaking news story, more to follow…