THE Prime Minister Boris Johnson has reportedly told some Conservative MPs that the national lockdown will not be extended beyond December 2.

Just hours after Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the nation the Government "hoped to be able to replace the national lockdown with a tiered system", Mr Johnson reportedly said there would be no extension.

The report, in The Times, said the Prime Minister had been addressing a group of Tory backbenchers known as the Northern Research Group, including Shipley MP Philip Davies, when he dismissed fears of a lockdown extension, and planned to open "as much as possible" after December 2.

The UK is currently halfway through the month-long national lockdown, which has seen all but essential shops and businesses be forced to close in an effort to stem the rise in infection rates of Covid-19.

Philip Davies, MP for Shipley, declined to comment on the private meeting. He has previously been highly critical of further lockdowns as a way to try and control Covid-19.

Today, the Government said it will decide next week how to move out of lockdown next month.

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said ministers want to see a “significant easing” of coronavirus controls when the lockdown in England is lifted on December 2, but suggested tighter controls may be needed in the top Tier 3.

The Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (SPI-M), which reports to the Scientific Advisory Committee for Emergencies (Sage), said there was a “clear effect” on infection rates from strict Tier 3 interventions but “much less from Tiers 1 and 2”.

SPI-M believe infections will rise at the same rate as before if the same three-tier system is brought back in on December 2.

Mr Jenrick said: “It is our hope and expectation that people in England will be able to move back into the tiered system.

“There will be a review. That work is undergoing on what those tiers look like and how local areas go back in but that will very much depend on the data.

“We will have to make decisions nearer the end of the month once we have got the most up-to-date information possible.

“But we all want to see a significant easing of the measures in all parts of England at the beginning of next month.”