"Within the lock down the rate of infection appeared to reduce down to what the minister’s called an acceptable level."

There was no lockdown in Sweden, the rate of infection and deaths reduced there in a very similar way to ours. Worldwide there is no evidence of a correlation between a reduction in the virus and lockdown, most countries locked down, some didn't, the outcomes have been similar, lockdown or not.

In England the death rate peaked on April 8th, it's easily verifiable on the Gov.UK website, and fell steadily afterwards. The lockdown began on March 23rd, given the time lag between contracting the virus and dying from it, the lockdown could have had no effect on the death rate until about a month later, around April 23rd, by which time the death rate had been falling steadily for two weeks.