MATT Hancock has said people should look forward to enjoying travel "across the whole of the UK" soon due to the strength of the vaccine rollout.
His government has revealed its roadmap out of lockdown through to June 21 - saying nightclubs may be open and the majority of coronavirus restrictions could be scrapped by then.
In Scotland, the First Minister has been more cautious and has said the country will return to a levels-based system at the end of April.
Nicola Sturgeon hit out at Boris Johnson's June 21 date last month, telling a Covid-19 briefing: "'If I was to give you a fixed, hard and fast date right now, I would pretty much be making it up and I don't think that's the approach I should take with you."
Travel to or from Scotland without a reasonable excuse is currently prohibited. Even before the stay at home regulations came in this year, people in level 3 or level 4 areas in Scotland were not permitted to leave their local authority boundaries.
On a visit to Glasgow Lighthouse Lab today Hancock pre-empted the Scottish Government by calling for a "great British summer".
READ MORE: Another 35 Covid deaths recorded in Scotland and 543 more people test positive
The Health Secretary said: “I very much hope that as we are able to lift restrictions then we are all able to travel across the UK.
“I’m confident because of the vaccine we will be able to make that progress and then be able to, all of us, to travel freely wherever we are within these islands.
“One of the factors that we have to be vigilant about in that road map is the emergence of new variants, in case the current vaccines are not as effective.
“I’ve said before that I’m optimistic for a great British summer and I’m now more optimistic about having a great British summer than I have been at any time, thanks to the speed and the effectiveness of the vaccine rollout.
“By great British summer, I absolutely mean people being able to enjoy travel across the whole of the UK.
“The travel rules for Scotland are a matter for the Scottish Government, but I think we can all see that we can make a stride down that roadmap thanks to the speed of the vaccine rollout.”
By 8.30am yesterday, 1,661,879 people in Scotland had received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine.
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