Public Urged To Obey Lockdown This VE Day Bank Holiday - Coronavirus: Top Stories This Morning - BBC ─ BBC

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It's Thursday 7th May 2020. Get the latest news, sport, business and weather from the BBC's Breakfast team live on iPlayer daily from 6am.


Public urged to continue with lockdown. The government is telling people to keep obeying lockdown rules this VE Day bank holiday, despite the forecast of sunny weather in some areas. It comes after newspaper reports earlier this week suggested some measures could be eased on Monday, and concerns were raised the public may be getting "mixed messages".




The UK is to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day, with the Royal Family leading tributes as the country remains in lockdown due to the coronavirus.

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall will lead a two-minute silence at 11:00 BST to honour servicemen and women during World War Two, and the Queen will address the nation later.

The PM thanked the VE Day generation, saying "our gratitude will be eternal".

Events are taking place all day, but public gatherings have been cancelled.

Victory in Europe Day marks the day in 1945 when then-prime minister Sir Winston Churchill announced that the war in Europe had come to an end, after Nazi Germany unconditionally surrendered.

This year's celebration will be limited as the lockdown prompted by the coronavirus pandemic means there will be no large scale street parties or parades.

However, the BBC is airing a series of special programmes to mark the milestone occasion, including a re-broadcast of parts of Sir Winston's speech.

A pre-recorded message from the Queen will be broadcast on BBC One at 21:00 - the exact moment her father, King George VI, gave a radio address 75 years ago.
'One supreme effort'

In a message, Prime Minister Mr Johnson referred to the virus outbreak, saying it "demands the same spirit of national endeavour" as shown during wartime.

"We can't hold the parades and street celebrations we enjoyed in the past, but all of us who were born since 1945 are acutely conscious that we owe everything we most value to the generation who won the Second World War," he said.

Mr Johnson - who is due to have a video call with a veteran later - said: "We survived and eventually triumphed thanks to the heroism of countless ordinary people, who may be elderly today, but who once carried the fate of freedom itself on their shoulders.

"Across the world, our soldiers, sailors and airmen fought the Nazis with courage, ingenuity and stubborn endurance.

"On the home front, women defended our cities against air raids, worked the factories, ran the hospitals and broke enemy codes. People of every age, race and background came together in one supreme effort."

Mr Johnson also wrote to surviving veterans and told them, despite the ongoing lockdown due to coronavirus, their efforts to topple a "ruthless enemy" would "always be remembered".


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