I'm worried by reports of how police are interpreting their new powers which came into force yesterday afternoon.. The thing which I was worried about earlier this week, a disconnect between the govt statement and the law, has come to pass (thread) thetimes.co.uk/article/police… 
I summarised the regulations yesterday. As I said, they are different to the Prime Minister's statement. For example, there is no limit to how many times you can go out in the regulations. So the police can't enforce that /2
Importantly, there's no general "essential trip" requirement for police to enforce. For a trip to be lawful a person must have "reasonable excuse" and there are a number of those including to "take exercise" - no requirement for that to be "essential" /3
So I see no reason why it is unlawful for people to take exercise wherever they want, including in parks and local 'beauty spots', as long as not gathering in groups of more than 3 not part of their household (though that isn't very clear to be fair) /4
There is another, entirely separate, question of whether it is morally right or in the spirit of the government's direction. I But those are not matters for the police nor should they be. I worried this would be an issue after the govt's announcement /5
I am also concerned that the Regulations may be too unclear to be properly enforced and allow citizens to understand what is and what isn't against the law. For example, what is a "public gathering"? Do people have to be consciously together or does a busy park count? /6
Please do follow @bricksilk, a former independent reviewer of anti-terror law, who is providing important commentary on this /7
