Matt Hancock threatens complete outdoor exercise ban
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Health secretary Matt Hancock has threatened to ban exercise as a part of the government’s social distancing measures if people do not follow the rules.
Pictures have emerged today of people picnicking or lounging in parks and beaches across the country as some continue to flout the government’s Covid-19 lockdown rules.
Hancock told the BBC today that the government was prepared to ban exercise in all forms like some other European countries have done.
It comes as Tory backbencher David Davis wrote in the Mail on Sunday that the country’s police forces were being overzealous in policing the government’s social distancing rules.
He said the emergency laws were “badly crafted and poorly communicated” and that their enforcement was “troublingly reminiscent of the power-mad Hodges” from BBC sitcom Dad’s Army.
However, Hancock insisted that the draconian laws were required to stop the spread of Covid-19.
“We’ve said it’s okay to go for exercise, because the physical and mental health benefits of exercise are really important,” he said.
“If you don’t want us to take the step to ban exercise of all forms outside your own home, then you’ve got to follow the rules.”
“I don’t want to take that action, of course I don’t, but we have already demonstrated that we are prepared to take action to get this virus under control.”
Police were given emergency powers last week to issue £60 fines, reduced to £30 if paid in 14 days, for anyone not following the government’s social distancing instructions.
There have already been complaints of officers being overzealous with the new powers, with some shops incorrectly being told they could not sell chocolate as it is “non-essential”.
One car load of essential workers in Greater Manchester were sent back home, after officers would not believe they were on the way to work, according to The Telegraph.
Other people have been reprimanded while on a walk, despite the government’s rules allowing exercise once a day.
Former Supreme Court judge Lord Jonathan Sumption said the UK risked turning into a “police state” if forces follow the lead of Derbyshire Police Force, which has been monitoring walkers with drones and threw black die into a lagoon to stop people using it.