BORIS JOHNSON was slammed today for announcing an “arbitrary” date for schools to reopen, risking yet another lockdown if safety measures are not in place.

Abandoning his previous talk of children returning to class soon after the February half-term break, the Prime Minister told the Commons that he hopes schools will reopen on March 8 if the government hits its target of vaccinating the most vulnerable groups by the middle of next month.

He based this date on the idea that the most vulnerable will have developed some level of immunity against Covid-19 within three weeks of their first jab, coinciding with the week starting March 8.