British health minister denies clash with finance chief over lockdown strategy

LONDON (Reuters) – British Health Secretary Matt Hancock on Sunday denied there was any disagreement with Finance Minister Rishi Sunak about when lockdown restrictions to fight the coronavirus could be lifted.

British newspaper reports on Sunday said Sunak was pushing for a path to be mapped out towards lifting the restrictions to help limit damage to the economy.

“We are working very closely together, and what matters is that we can get out of this as fast as possible,” he told Sky News on Sunday.

“We have to make sure that as many people as possible follow the rules so we can slow the spread.”

(Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by Jason Neely)