New health secretary Sajid Javid has said there is “no going back” on lifting England’s remaining Covid restrictions.
Mr Javid spoke to reporters this morning while on a visit to St Thomas’ Hospital in London and ahead of a statement to parliament later.
The former chancellor said he would outline his updated roadmap out of restrictions when addresses MPs in the Commons.
“I want to see the restrictions lifted and life going back to normal as quickly as possible,” he said. “It’s going to be irreversible, there’s no going back. That’s why we want to be careful during that process.”
Health bosses had earlier urged Mr Javid to be a “voice of caution” in the cabinet over the pressures the pandemic is piling on the NHS.
Javid took on the role as health secretary on Saturday afternoon, following Matt Hancock’s resignation promoted by images of his aide kissing in his office back in May of this year breaking social distancing rules.
when asked about the cameras Javid said “I haven’t disabled the camera that you are talking about but it has been disabled by the department,”
“For security it’s just common sense. I don’t think as a general rule there should be cameras in the secretary of state’s office.”
Mr Javid added: “I’ve never known that in the other five departments that I’ve run, and I’m not really sure why there was one here. But I’m sure there will be more to this as the whole incident is investigated.”
It comes as Whitehall officials urgently review the use of cameras in government departments, with MI5 reportedly set to discuss the leaked CCTV footage of Mr Hancock with the Cabinet Office.