Boris Johnson warns coronavirus is starting to ‘surge’ AGAIN in Europe

Boris Johnson faced fresh Tory anger over ‘moving the goalposts’ on lockdown today after he delivered a stark warning that coronavirus is starting to ‘surge’ again in Europe.

The PM admitted he was under pressure to ramp up the pace of his roadmap as infections and deaths tumble – with Nicola Sturgeon revealing that she is stepping up the loosening in Scotland.

But Mr Johnson warned it is not yet possible to ‘get back to normal’ with the levels still ‘much higher than last summer’.

‘We can see the signs of a surge of Covid among some of our European friends, and we remember how we in the UK have tended to follow that upwards curve, if a few weeks later,’ he wrote in an article for the Telegraph.

‘We know how fast this disease can take off, and that Monday’s successful return to school will inevitably add to the budget of risk. 

‘The overwhelming majority of people – and businesses – would prefer us to take steps that are cautious but irreversible, rather than go backwards again.

‘They would rather trade haste for certainty.’

However, the Covid Recovery Group of lockdown-sceptic Tory MPs renewed its calls for Mr Johnson to move earlier, complaining that ministers are ‘moving the goalposts’.

CRG head and former chief whip Mark Harper pointed to the way Transport Secretary Grant Shapps stressed the importance of second vaccine doses in interviews this morning.

He claimed ministers were now ‘casting doubt on the efficacy of the vaccine’ despite the UK’s four chief medical officers saying the first dose brings ‘substantial protection’.

Infection rates have been increasing in a number of European countries recently