Andrew Lloyd Webber willing to be arrested if theatres do not reopen on June 21

UK government threatened with ‘mother of all legal cases’ if lockdown easing delayed

Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber is willing to be arrested in order to reopen his theatres. Getty Images 

British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber is threatening the UK government with "the mother of all legal cases" if theatres do not fully reopen on June 21.

Lord Lloyd Webber said he was determined to open his theatres without social distancing, and he is prepared to be arrested if authorities try to stop him.

Theatres were allowed to partially reopen in England from May 17 but social distancing measures left many theatres making a loss.

The Phantom of the Opera composer said he may have to sell his six venues in London's West End if the government does not relax restrictions.

He said he had already remortgaged his London home.

"We are going to open, come hell or high water," Lloyd-Webber told The Telegraph.

Asked what he would do if the government postponed lifting lockdown, he said: “We will say: ‘come to the theatre and arrest us'.”

Several British newspapers reported on Wednesday that Chancellor Rishi Sunak was willing to accept a four-week delay to the final stage of reopening as the government considers extending restrictions beyond June 21.

Mr Sunak was previously keen to lift lockdown restrictions to allow the economy to flourish, but a Whitehall source told the newspapers he is now more concerned that the final step can be permanent.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will consider data on Covid cases and hospital admissions over the coming days before an announcement is made on Monday.

Lloyd Webber said he had seen scientific proof that theatres do not cause coronavirus outbreaks.

His new production, Cinderella, is due to begin previews on June 25 ahead of its world premiere three weeks later.

“If the government ignore their own science, we have the mother of all legal cases against them,” he said.

"If Cinderella couldn't open, we'd go, 'Look, either we go to law about it or you'll have to compensate us'."

The fourth and final stage of lockdown easing in England is in doubt because of the spread of Covid-19 variants.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Tuesday there was a “challenging decision” to be made over the final step.

However, former health secretary Jeremy Hunt said any delay to the road map would be for only a couple of weeks due the success of Britain's vaccination programme.

Mr Hunt, chairman of the Commons Health and Social Care Committee, said he was “feeling quite optimistic that we are going to see the restrictions lifted” because “being double-jabbed” works against the Indian variant.

“If freedom day ends up being put back a couple of weeks so we can get more people double-jabbed, I think it will only be a temporary setback,” he told Times Radio.