Britain is on course to ditch a Covid-19 rule requiring people to stay at least one metre apart next month, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said.

Mr Johnson’s government has set out a roadmap to end lockdown restrictions in stages as vaccines are rolled out.

June 21 has been set as a date when social distancing could end.

Asked about that possibility, Mr Johnson said: “I think we’ve got a good chance, a good chance, of being able to dispense with one-metre plus.”

The one-metre plus rule means people must stay at least that distance apart and take other measures to prevent the spread of infections. It has been criticised by the hospitality industry.

The next stage of the government’s unlocking plans is May 17, when restrictions on foreign travel are expected to be eased, but not lifted.

Mr Johnson struck a cautious note, saying, “We do want to do some opening up on May the 17th, but I don’t think that the people of this country want to see an influx of disease from anywhere else. We’ve got to be very, very tough, and we’ve got to be as cautious as we can.”

Amid campaigning in local government elections, Mr Johnson has faced questions about who paid for the refurbishment of his apartment and childcare for his young son.

He declined to answer questions about opposition Labour Party allegations of sleaze.

“All this kind of stuff is absolutely not relevant,” he said, adding that voters wanted to focus on policies ahead of ­elections on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the suggestion an independent Scotland would have been unable to procure coronavirus vaccines is “nonsense”, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said.

She said coronavirus vaccines are not a “gift” from the UK government to Scotland and are procured on a joint four-nations basis.

Questioned on ITV’s Good Morning Britain programme: “If an independent Scotland was in Europe you wouldn’t have 2.8 million people vaccinated, would you?” the SNP leader replied: “I just think that is utterly nonsense.”

She added: “The UK was still within the transition period when it procured the vaccine and that didn’t prevent it procuring the vaccine on a four-nations basis with England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, the way we procure the flu vaccine every year.

“That was done, nothing would have prevented that happening had we still been in the European Union.” 

She later said: “Scotland could if it chose procure the vaccine separately… but we chose to do it on a four-nations basis because it makes sense and if Scotland was independent it may well be that we still chose to do that.”