Police demand ministers make English Covid laws clearer

Police leaders demanded more clarity on exercise regulations last night after Priti Patel insisted the rules were 'simple and clear' – despite widespread public confusion. The call for clarity came as: Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey warned furlough is masking unemployment and the true rate could be 6.5 per cent not 4.9 per cent; The government is facing more pressure to make the vaccination programme 24-hours and start giving more frontline workers jabs; Matt Hancock has denied there is a national oxygen shortage as the strain on the NHS increases but admitted patients might have to be moved to where there are supplies; One in every three deaths in England and Wales was linked to coronavirus in the final days of 2020, official figures revealed today as a separate analysis claimed the virus was behind the sharpest rise in fatalities since 1940; Downing Street has admitted pictures of the random contents in some free school meal food parcels are 'completely unacceptable' after the issue was highlighted by Marcus Rashford; Seven vaccination hubs have come into use, including London's ExCeL and Birmingham's Millennium Point; Derbyshire Police has cancelled £200 fines for two women penalised for driving five miles to go for a walk; Nearly a quarter of care home residents have received their first shot of Covid vaccine, with nearly 2.7million doses now administered across the UK; Hospitals started rationing oxygen as it emerged that one in four coronavirus patients is under 55. National Police Chiefs' Council chairman Martin Hewitt said it would be 'challenging' to draw up rules covering every eventuality Boris Johnson, who has himself come under fire for cycling in the Olympic Park seven miles from his Downing Street flat, has been urged to follow the devolved administrations and set clear boundaries Covid Marshals talk to a cyclist who was sat down on the esplanade at Bournemouth Beach on Sunday Lockdown rules: So what ARE we allowed to do then? Policing Minister Kit Malthouse also defended Mr Johnson's bike ride but accused the public of 'searching for the loopholes in the law' by flouting the third national lockdown - comparing it to pubs serving scotch eggs to stay open last year - and insisted that it is the police's job to scrutinise where people are going and who they are meeting outdoors. Police last night warned that people caught not wearing a face mask on public transport will be fined as Priti Patel backed an even tougher crackdown on lockdown rule-breakers She warned that officers are moving more quickly to issuing fines where people are clearly breaching coronavirus regulations, with nearly 45,000 fixed penalty notices issued across the UK since March.