advisor to the uk health security agency, doctor susan hopkins. but before we do, i wanted to talk about how we got to this important milestone and what this means for ourfight against this milestone and what this means for our fight against this virus. let s start with how we got here. back in july we made the decision to take step four of our road map so that we could roll back the restrictions and move closer to normal life. this wasn t an easy decision. but taking this step when we did, backed by the warmer weather and the school holidays, it helped us to enjoy the greatest possible freedoms for a number of months. as i said when i announced that change, this showed us how we can learn to live with covid. but i also warned that a more harmful new variant would have the potential to set us back. four
freedoms debates of people saying, when do my freedoms get to be determined by the state? freedoms get to be determined by the state? what it all comes back to this decision of, what is actually in society s this decision of, what is actually in society s overall benefit, and you saw in society s overall benefit, and you saw that actually, by imposing these you saw that actually, by imposing these vaccine passports, there was a massive these vaccine passports, there was a massive uptake in the number of people massive uptake in the number of people in massive uptake in the number of people in france to get vaccinated. ithink people in france to get vaccinated. i think it s people in france to get vaccinated. i think it s now 51 million people who are i think it s now 51 million people who are fully vaccinated in france. so it who are fully vaccinated in france. so it hasn t who are fully vaccinated in france. so it hasn t gone away and it certainly so it hasn t
addition to that, combat aircraft and combat ships are being moved near the ukrainian and combat ships are being moved nearthe ukrainian area, and combat ships are being moved near the ukrainian area, and add to that the additional weapons that are now being provided to the ukrainians. i think it is very clear that if putin makes the decision to go into the ukraine, he is going to pay a very heavy price. pay a very heavy price. there has been some pay a very heavy price. there has been some talk pay a very heavy price. there has been some talk today pay a very heavy price. there has been some talk today in - pay a very heavy price. there has been some talk today in brussels that they are going to keep their staff in ukraine, the united states in the uk started drawing down staff members in the embassies in kyiv. the foreign policy chief, joseph burrell, was concerned that in doing so, publicly you add to the tension, that you are dramatising the situation on the ground, and at th
ahead of ourselves? well, it is important ahead of ourselves? well, it is important that ahead of ourselves? well, it is important that we ahead of ourselves? well, it is important that we take - ahead of ourselves? well, it is i important that we take necessary precautions here for the safety of individuals. i think the fact that the russians continue to reinforce their position in belarus, that they now have 127,000 forces located along the border, and the intelligence reports that indicate that they are likely to invade, you put that all together, it is important that we take steps certainly to at least protect the lives of the families that might be involved. in addition to that, i think it is important to increase our leverage in terms of taking these security precautions, because what that does is it increases the leveraged with regards to dealing with russia, and putin has to make a decision. does he want to pay the high price that he is going to pay
if he invades, or would it be better to negotiate some kind of approach that allows him to claim some limited victory in terms of security for russia? he has got a very difficult decision to make. he may be a bully, but he s not stupid. the former ambassador to brussels, president 0bama s former ambassador anthony gardner, has said that he fully admits the significant upside is that the uk can act swiftly in foreign affairs including ukraine the rather than being dragged into endless european waffle, he says that is a surprise upside to brexit. has this experience with ukraine demonstrated a bit more that the uk is more nimble outside the eu? ., , , ., the uk is more nimble outside the eu? . , , ., , the uk is more nimble outside the eu? ., , ., eu? the uk has been a very important all to the eu? the uk has been a very important ally to the united eu? the uk has been a very important ally to the united states eu? the uk has been a very important ally to the united states in eu