Lockdown law bans sex (if you’re living apart...)

A NEW coronavirus law makes it illegal for couples from different households to have sex indoors.

Legislation that came into force yesterday states it is an offence for two or more people in England to gather and ‘interact’ in a property if they do not live together.

Individuals can go into another home for ‘work purposes’ or to care for vulnerable people, for example – but not ‘to engage in any form of social interaction... or to undertake any other activity with each other’.

Legal commentators pounced on the wording after the law was rushed through parliament over the weekend.

George Peretz QC tweeted: ‘ As I read this, unless you live together, it’s now unlawful to have sex with your lover indoors... but you can have sex with an escort indoors, as that is reasonably necessary for their work purposes.’

Downing Street was forced to clarify that police would not now barge into people’s homes to stop couples from having sex.

When asked about the law, prime minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman said police could ‘exercise their discretion’. He added: ‘They will have the power to break up large public gatherings and to issue fines... [but] the police don’t have the powers to enter people’s homes under the regulations.’

It came after the government published lengthy guidelines online yesterday on how to comply with new rules in England which allow gatherings outdoors of up to six people from different homes – as long as social distancing is maintained.

The advice says people visiting family or friends for picnics and barbecues in back gardens should ideally bring their own chairs, plates and utensils.

Guests visiting from another home should also ‘not go inside to help the host carry the food out or to help with the washing up’.