The former Chancellor today urged the Government to relax restrictions on younger people to get the nation working again.
Speaking to Sky News, Mr Javid claimed Britain should release the under-45s as the virus wasn’t going away anytime soon.
He said: “We shouldn’t rule out an option that focuses on protecting the most vulnerable but gives more freedom to others.
“We know now that the mortality rate of younger people, say under the age of 45, is a lot lower than others.
“And it might be the case that in the future we can find a way that we focus our protection on those that are most vulnerable.”
The ousted former Chancellor bashed the lockdown and urged Boris Johnson to make changes now.
He explained: “We’re going to have to co-exist with this virus for I think many months, if not potentially years.
“But we’ve got to find a way forward and that does mean you’re relaxing, as much as you can.
“Running the economy hot you could say, in a way that you are trying to take into account, not just the sort of necessity to control the virus, but also the wider impact on society – those job losses, those opportunities foregone, particularly for younger people.
“The rise of domestic violence, child abuse, of mental health cases. All of that needs to be taken into account.”
Mr Johnson could ease the coronavirus lockdown in fortnightly stages over several months before it’s fully lifted.
He will meet with his cabinet on Sunday before revealing his “road map” for Britain in a televised address that evening.
A Government source said: “It means we could lift restrictions once a fortnight rather than reviewing the lockdown every three weeks, as is currently the case.”
Another added: “You take a baby step, monitor the R rate really closely, satisfy yourself it’s not leading to an increase in R, take another baby step and so on.”
This was echoed this morning by Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden, who warned the public any changes would be “tentative” and could even be reversed.
He said: ““At each stage we’ll take a supremely cautious approach and it will only be if the public health allows us to do so that we will take that step of unlocking.
“If we see a variation from that for example the R rate starts to rise in an uncontrollable fashion then we won’t hesitate to step back again.”
