THERE is a “good chance” the one-metre plus rule for social distancing can be ditched next month, Boris Johnson said.

The final decision on whether the change can be brought in from June 21 will depend on the data, the Prime Minister added.

Announcing his roadmap out of lockdown earlier this year, said all social distancing rules will be removed on June 21 at the earliest in the final stage of the roadmap.

Mr Johnson said he feels like the next stage of reopening on May 17 – which covers indoor hospitality, entertainment and possibly foreign travel – “is going to be good”.

Many people have June 21 marked in their calendars as the time life can get back to normal; going to the pub with friends, hugging loved ones, going to nightclubs and going on holiday.

Speaking while on the campaign trail, the Prime Minister said: “As things stand, and the way things are going, with the vaccine rollout going the way that it is – we have done 50 million jabs as I speak to you today, quarter of the adult population, one in four have had two jabs.

“You are seeing the results of that really starting to show up in the epidemiology.

“I think that we will be able to go ahead, feels like May 17 is going to be good.

“But it also looks to me as though June 21 we’ll be able to say social distancing as we currently have to do it, the one-metre plus, I think we have got a good chance of being able to dispense with the one-metre plus from June 21.

“That is still dependent on the data, we can’t say it categorically yet, we have got to look at the epidemiology as we progress, we have got to look at where we get to with the disease. But that’s what it feels like to me right now.”