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Ministers should set out an exit strategy from lockdown to get Britain back to work, the former Chancellor Philip Hammond has said.

He said the economy could “not survive” waiting until a vaccine becomes available - which could be 18 months - before kickstarting key industries.

Mr Hammond, who was Chancellor under Theresa May from 2016 to 2019, said he hoped the expected return of Boris Johnson to work on Monday would mark a “clear step change” in the Government’s increasingly under-fire response to the pandemic.

“The reality is that we have to start reopening the economy. But we have to do it living with Covid,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Read more Pressure grows on Government to produce exit plan- LIVE

“We can’t wait until a vaccine is developed, produced in sufficient quantity and rolled out across the population. The economy won’t survive that long.

“Locking everything down and keeping everything locked down is relatively straightforward. The challenge of how to carefully, progressively, methodically reopen protecting both health and jobs is much, much more challenging and calls for a really skilful political leadership.”

Downing Street has so far resisted calls to publish an ‘exit strategy’ over fears it could lead to Brits becoming complacent in following social distancing rules.

Pressure on ministers has mounted after Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon moved to outline a possible phased easing of her country's lockdown earlier this week.

But in one sign of a turning tide in Number 10, the UK Government is reportedly considering a proposal to allow Brits to meet up with small "bubbles" of up to 10 of their closest family or friends.

According to the Daily Mail, the plan would let people nominate one or two households to be part of their "cluster", reuniting couples forced apart by the lockdown, but would not be permitted to meet up with anyone else.

Meanwhile, Chancellor Rishi Sunak is reportedly considering measures to allow businesses to reopen in a “safe and practical way”, including staying two metres apart at all times.

However, earlier this week chief medical officer Chris Whitty warned social distancing measures would likely need to be in place for the "next calendar year".