Susanna Reid opens up on behind-the-scenes concerns after GMB discussion: ‘My heart sank’
Matt Hancock confirms support bubbles will remain permitted
Susanna Reid, 50, has taken to Twitter to share her relief about the news that childcare and support bubbles will not be removed, as coronavirus lockdown rules are set to become tougher in England. In a series of tweets, the Good Morning Britain presenter admitted her “heart sank” when Vaccine Deployment minister Nadhim Zahawi appeared to hint that support bubbles could be scrapped when restrictions are tightened during an interview with her and her co-host Piers Morgan, 55, today.
In view of her 785,000 followers, Susanna shared the news, which was delivered by the Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
She penned: “BREAKING: Matt Hancock RULES OUT removing childcare and support bubbles, acknowledging they are ‘very important’.”
Following the announcement, Susanna was praised by GMB viewers for addressing the issue on the ITV show.
One person said: “Well done to you for pushing this on your show today – keep up the good work.”
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Susanna then replied: “Thanks – as soon as it was suggested, my heart sank.
“The Vaccines Minister couldn’t make this commitment this morning @gmb so I am glad the Heath Secretary has cleared it up.”
Former Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne then added to the mum-of-three: “Thanks for pushing this, really does make a huge difference to so many lives.”
The presenter wrote back to the politician: “Agreed – those who are on their own, or struggle with childcare, rely on them.
“The government can’t play fast and loose with this kind of suggestion.”
A support bubble is where a household with one adult joins with another household (on an exclusive basis).
Alongside support bubbles, childcare bubbles allow families to join with another, such as grandparents or parents, for the purpose of providing informal childcare.
Households within a bubble can still visit each other, stay overnight, and visit public places together.
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Susanna said during her interview with the Vaccine Deployment minister on GMB this morning: “Can you promise that support bubbles won’t be scrapped?”
Mr Zahawi said: “We don’t want to go tougher but we review everything because ultimately this new variant is much more infectious.
“The viral load as the scientists call it is much greater.”
Piers then chimed: “Truth is isn’t it Mr Zahawi you can’t make any guarantees like that.
“You can’t guarantee there won’t be tougher restrictions because you may need to do them and I think the time is long past where the government needs to stop making promises it can’t potentially keep, it’s better to stick to reality and the reality is that you just don’t know, do you?”
Mr Zahawi agreed and replied: “Well look Piers you’re right, we need to review everything because we’ve got to make sure we get this new variant under control because we need to vaccinate the most vulnerable people.”
However, Matt Hancock provided some clarity on the issue at a Downing Street press briefing this evening, saying: “I can rule out removing the bubbles that we have in place – the childcare bubbles (and) the support bubbles are very important and we’re going to keep them.
“I know how important they are to people and they are an important part of the system that we have got to support people whilst also having these tough measures that are necessary.”
He continued: “The bubbles are there for individual, specific people – so if you have bubbled with somebody, that is the person you have bubbled with.
“You can’t keep moving bubbles, that’s very important. Somebody in your bubble essentially becomes effectively part of your household. It is important that people stick to the same bubble but the bubbles policy will stay.”
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