Island communities could see lockdown restrictions lifted first, Michael Gove has suggested.
It could mean places like the Isle of Wight could have restrictions eased as a pilot for the rest of the country.
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster made the comments in reference to how the devolved administrations might take a different approach to dealing with the coronavirus crisis.
He said: "My own personal view is that it is preferable if we do it (lift the lockdown) as one United Kingdom.
"But there is a specific scientific justification for saying that island communities can be areas where you could pilot some measures, contact tracing in particular, in order to combine that with relaxing measures at a progressively greater rate.
"That can help you judge what is right for the country overall."
Mr Gove also told MPs that so-called "herd immunity" against coronavirus was never official policy.
He said: "It was never Government policy.
"It is a term that epidemiologists and others use to describe a particular stage in the development of a disease, if a particular set of principles are followed.
"But, it's not Government policy."
And said he had read a report into Exercise Cygnus, a 2016 simulation on how the NHS would cope with a pandemic flu outbreak, last week.
He said: "I read it last week.
"Some of the product that flowed from that report I had read before hand."
