MP Simon Hart has been accused of “divisive politics” and irresponsibility on social media, following a Twitter post where he appeared to say travel of up to 15 miles for certain forms of exercise was fine in Wales.

Posting on Twitter on Friday, May 22, the Pembrokeshire South MP wrote: “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.”
Comments on the MP’s Twitter page following the post included calls for a retraction, describing it as "very irresponsible," claims of “divisive politics,” and the claims the tweet was “factually incorrect”.
Mr Hart tweeted the post after meeting with Wales' four chief constables and police and crime commissioners.
Mark Collins, chief constable for Dyfed-Powys, present at the meeting, has said he had only discussed with Mr Hart how far he personally felt those in rural areas, like Pembrokeshire, could reasonably travel for certain activities, rather than a specific range for certain activities.
Welsh Government guidelines on the existing lockdown restrictions say exercise should be undertaken locally, as close as possible to the home.
Mr Collins later said: “It is important we continue to work with the Wales Office and the Welsh Government to ensure clear and consistent messaging is available to the public during these unprecedented times.
“Welsh Government advice states that, in general, exercise should not involve people driving away from home, although exceptions do exist to support people with specific health or mobility issues.
“With regards to playing golf or angling, Welsh Government advises that this should also be done local to your home and people should not drive outside their local area to undertake these forms of exercise.
“Wales has a varied landscape and geography, and the definition of what constitutes local varies from region to region.
“As such I would ask that people use their judgement when assessing how far they travel in order to undertake some form of exercise.
“For example, in recent days I have said I would consider driving around 10 miles to undertake certain forms of exercise appropriate, but only in rural areas such as Pembrokeshire, and where an alternative is not available closer to home.
“However, I believe it is unhelpful to attempt to put a fixed number of miles on how far people can travel, as what is ‘local’ in Cardiff could be quite different to what is ‘local’ in Powys.
“Our officers have worked hard over the last eight weeks to engage with the public at every opportunity, explain what we are doing and why, and encourage people to make the best choices to protect public health in Wales.
“We continue to encourage people to follow Welsh Government advice, and keep up to date with any developments at gov.wales/coronavirus”
Mr Hart said: "In a recent meeting Wales Office Ministers and officials sought the views of chief constables as to their interpretation of a ‘reasonable distance’ to travel and what constituted ‘local,’ as set out in Welsh Government exercise guidelines. In this context we discussed golf, angling, surfing and metal detecting as examples of forms of exercise which may, or may not, be covered. 
“We are continuing to work together to resolve this, and the Wales Office is awaiting outstanding responses from Welsh Government to these questions. We have always agreed that all the Welsh Government and UK Government guidelines around unnecessary travel and social distancing should remain, and we were also grateful for Chief Constable Collins’ view that as long as the exercise falls within the scope of Welsh Government exercise options then a distance of around ten miles is a reasonable guide. In all circumstances we also agreed that common sense should always be applied.”