Cabinet minister Michael Gove has refused to rule out England’s new national lockdown being extended beyond December 2.

Speaking on Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday, Mr Gove said: “It will be reviewed on December 2 but we will always be driven by what the data shows.

“We believe all the measures that have been put in place will reduce the R rate below 1 and that is the point you will see a decline of the virus.”

The presenter asked whether if the R rate does not fall below 1, the lockdown would be extended.

Mr Gove replied: “We will look at all of the data, we’ve got this 4 week period during which we’re going to view progress but of course we’ll always be driven by the data.”

Later, asked by Sophy Ridge could lockdown be extended, he answered: “Yes.”

He said: “We want to be in a position where we can - and I believe that this is likely to be the case - have an approach where if we bring down the rate of infection sufficiently we can reduce measures nationally and also reduce measures regionally.

“Because the regional approach is one that, wherever possible, we want to take because again we recognise it may be the case in the future that having reduced R below 1, having reduced national restrictions, we may see a specific upsurge in specific areas which will require specific regional measures.”

On Saturday afternoon, prime minister Boris Johnson put England into a second national lockdown, saying measures - which include the closure of non-essential shops and hospitality and people being told to stay at home - would begin on Thursday.