Controversial MP Priti Patel says family members should not stop to chat in the street because ‘mingling’ breaks the rules.
The UK Home Secretary said this essentially breaks the new Rule of 6 in a discussion on the BBC's Radio 4’s Today programme.
Asked if two families of four stopping for a chat on the way to the park constituted "mingling", She responded: "I think it is absolutely mingling.
"You have got to put this in the context of coronavirus and keeping distance, wearing masks.
"The rule of six is about making sure that people are being conscientious and not putting other people's health at risk. Mingling is people coming together. That is my definition of mingling."
She also said "it was right" to report people for breaking coronavirus restrictions to police.
It's now illegal to gather indoors or outdoors in a group of more than six people in England.
Police can hand people fines of up to £3,200 to repeat offenders - which aims to curb soaring coronavirus cases.
But some of the small print of the new law is raising eyebrows.
The fresh restriction will make it illegal to "mingle" with other groups in the pub, forcing police to define what mingling means.
Exemptions will also apply for "significant" life events like baptisms, as well as hunts and shoots, which could leave it open to confusion.
Human rights barrister Adam Wagner, of Doughty Street Chambers, told the Mirror the law has expanded like “barnacles on the bottom of a boat” - and left a few holes behind.
