A Cabinet minister has said he would not snitch on his neighbours for flouting lockdown rules.
Robert Jenrick, the communities secretary, ruled out reporting house parties and gatherings after police received almost 200,000 calls from eagle-eyed residents.
Asked by LBC’s Nick Ferrari if he would join them, Mr Jenrick said: "No, I don't think I would do. But I'm not going to pass judgement on other people and what they're choosing to do.
"It's become apparent to me that the lockdown is harder for different people that others.
"That's why, in my job, I've tried to find small ways to make it more liveable and bearable, particularly people who live in flats and apartments without gardens or have kids in cramped accommodation.
"That's why I've tried to keep the parks open. That's why I've reopened graveyards and cemeteries so people can go and see their loved ones. That's why we're reopening tips and recycling centres.”
Officers have issued more than 9,000 fines for breaches of the shut down and have identified hundreds of repeat offenders.
Mr Jenrick came under fire last month after it emerged he had made a 150-mile round trip from London to his £1.1 million second home in Herefordshire and to his elderly parents in Shropshire.
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Following outcry over the trips defying the ban on non-essential travel, the MP for Newark, in Nottinghamshire, defended them on the grounds of delivering medical essentials.
