Coronavirus: Minister's exercise tweet 'quoted chief constable'

Simon Hart said he had been told the advice by a chief constable

Welsh Secretary Simon Hart has defended a tweet accused of being incorrect by a chief constable.

Mr Hart said he had been quoting Dyfed-Powys Police Chief Constable Mark Collins when he said people in Wales were allowed to travel up to 15 miles to exercise.

Mr Collins later said people should not drive to take exercise.

The UK government minister told MPs he was "quite surprised" to hear Mr Collins' response.

Dyfed-Powys Police has been asked to comment.

Welsh Government guidelines on lockdown restrictions say "exercise should be undertaken locally - as close as possible to the home".

They continue: "In general this should not involve people driving to a location away from home for this purpose."

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Last Friday Mr Hart tweeted: "Fascinating to hear from Wales' four police chiefs today, and the commissioners too, especially on what's permissible under lockdown.

"Consensus was that travelling 10-15 miles from home to fish, play golf, surf or exercise is fine - subject to all other distancing requirements".

However responding to questions from MPs on Thursday, Mr Hart said "the reference to 10 to 15 miles to travel to play golf or fish was actually Chief Constable Mark Collins' own words - not mine - and not disputed by anybody on that call".

He told the Welsh Affairs Select Committee that he was "quite surprised" to then hear that the comment he tweeted was "interpreted as being incorrect".