People are pleading with Boris Johnson to make June 21 a bank holiday

Despite Boris Johnson’s insistence that his government would be led by “data, not dates” in their “cautious” loosening of England’s coronavirus lockdown restrictions, there’s one date that has certainly got everyone talking – to the extent that some are calling for a bank holiday.

The prime minister announced his “roadmap” in the House of Commons and at a Downing Street press conference on Monday.

If all goes to plan, in terms of vaccines and new variants, restrictions will be eased in four stages, starting with schools reopening on 8 March and culminating on 21 June – at which point, the prime minister said, the government will “aim to remove all legal limits on social contact”.

Yup, that’s right – 21 June could be the date that we finally see restrictions lifted in full, with Johnson even name-checking nightclubs in his speech.

Unsurprisingly, after what will have been at least 15 months since anything resembling normality in the UK, social media was soon united in calls for a bank holiday to be declared on 21 June – with some even starting petitions.

Many felt the holiday could be a fitting way to celebrate the efforts of those who have risked their lives during the pandemic.

But others didn’t really seem to mind what’s being celebrated.

Many people felt a single day was just not enough.

As it was pointed out, it seems like a pretty easy win for the government – but, then again, they’ve seemed happy enough to turn these situations into own goals in the past.

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