PRIME Minister Boris Johnson says he 'hopes' schools can reopen in March.

Speaking to the Commons on Wednesday, the Prime Minister said he was aiming for a date of March 8 to reopen schools, as further progress is made to vaccinate the most vulnerable.

He hinted that other restrictions could be removed around this time as well.

Mr Johnson said: "If we achieve our target of vaccinating everyone in the four most vulnerable groups with their first dose by February 15, and every passing day sees more progress towards that goal, then those groups [will] have developed immunity from the virus about three-weeks later, that is by March 8.

"We hope it will therefore be safe to begin the reopening of schools from Monday, March 8.

"With other economic and social restrictions being removed thereafter as and when the data permits – then or thereafter I should say."

But Mr Johnson's March 8 date has been criticised by opposition leader Sir Kier Starmer and took aim at the Prime Minister for challenging him to declare that schools are safe when they are not able to open until March.

He said: "Even for this Prime Minister, it's quite something to open schools one day, close them the next, to call them vectors of transmission and then to challenge me to say that schools he's closed are safe.

"Only now to give a statement where he says that schools can't open until March 8 at the earliest because it's not safe to do so.

"That's his analysis, it's the sort of nonsense that's led us to the highest death toll in Europe and the worst recession.

"But of course we welcome any steps in reopening schools and we're going to look at the detail of how the Education Secretary Gavin Williamson plans to deliver this and the plans to deliver online learning."

Mr Johnson responded: "He knows perfectly well that the problem is not that schools are unsafe, they are not unsafe, schools are safe and he should say it and his union paymasters should hear him say it loud and clear.

"The problem is that they bring communities together, obviously, and large numbers of kids are a considerable vector of transmission. It's not that there's any particular extra risk to those involved in education."