Boris Johnson has confirmed that schools in England will not reopen for all pupils after the February half term - but he has set Monday 8 March as the date when pupils might go back. When he announced the lockdown at the start of January, he said he hoped that if the lockdown and the vaccination programme were effective, “we can steadily move out of lockdown, reopening schools after the February half term”. Today, in a statement to MPs, he said that the planned opening date had been set back – meaning millions of parents face two more weeks of home schooling beyond the time originally implied. The new target date he set, 8 March, is one already identified as a deadline by the Covid Recovery Group, which represents lockdown-sceptic Tories; the CRG has been arguing that the lockdown should start lifting from this point because it marks three weeks after all 15 million people in the top four priority groups should have had their first dose of vaccine, and should therefore be well protected. In his statement Johnson did not say what other lockdown measures might be lifted from 8 March, but he said he would publish a plan for easing the lockdown in the week starting Monday 22 February, after the half-term recess. At a subsequent press conference, Johnson did stress that schools reopening on 8 March was only an aim, and that it was not guaranteed. He said: I’m hopeful, but that’s the earliest that we can do it and it depends on lots of things going right ... It also depends on us all now continuing, above all, to work together to drive down the incidents of the disease. The National Education Union has accused him of creating “false hope” about this date. (See 2.44pm.) Boris Johnson has confirmed that British citizens returning from high-risk countries must quarantine in hotels at their own expense, facing down calls from cabinet colleagues and scientists to extend the policy to all arrivals. Labour has called for the vaccine priority list to be written so that teachers and other key workers get vaccinated ahead of some over-50s. (See 12.49pm.) Johnson has said this would delay the lifting of lockdown. (See 1.50pm.) Britain is on a collision course with the EU over vaccine shortages after Brussels refused to accept that people in the UK have first claim on Oxford/AstraZeneca doses produced in local plants. Doctors have raised concerns about “worrying” disparities in vaccine coverage in England amid signs black people and those in more deprived areas were less likely to receive the vaccine than others in the first weeks of rollout. Nicola Sturgeon has questioned whether Boris Johnson’s planned trip from London to Scotland on Thursday is “genuinely essential”, suggesting his visit makes it harder to convince the public to stick to travel restrictions. That’s all from me for tonight. But our coverage continues on our global coronavirus live blog. It’s here.