The admission was made in guidance issued to officers as the Prime Minister urged millions to return to work on Wednesday. In a relaxing of lockdown rules, Boris Johnson said anyone who cannot work from home should speak to their boss about returning to the workplace. And he said people could venture outside their homes to meet one person from another household but warned a distance of at least 2metres should be kept.

But photos this morning showed London tubes rammed with commuters, many not wearing any face coverings.

In a series of guidelines, the College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs’ Council reminded officers to only enforce what is enshrined in law.

They said that “Government guidance is not enforceable, for example two-metre distancing, avoiding public transport or the wearing of face coverings in enclosed spaces”.

The Government has recommended the wearing of face coverings in shops and on public transport.

On Wednesday, the changes in restrictions on public movement in England came into effect.

People are now allowed to exercise outdoors for an unlimited time.

Up until now they had only been allowed out once a day to undertake a form of exercise.

And the Government has said employees who are unable to work from home are being “actively encouraged” to return to work.

The updated guidance put out by the National Police Chiefs Council and the College of Policing applies to officers in England and Wales.

They said the changes to the law means officers in England “have no power to enforce two-metre distancing”.

However, for officers in Wales “two-metre distancing is enforceable”.

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Lockdown rules in Wales remain strict after First Minister Mark Drakeford last week extended the stay-at-home order for another three weeks,

The guidelines say that “enforcement is a last resort” and suggest officers employ a four-step escalation process when dealing with members of the public.

They are encouraged to “engage, explain, encourage, enforce”.

The topic of social distancing is not specifically touched on in the original Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020 from March 26 nor the amended version enacted at 12.01am on Wednesday.

This means keeping a distance of 2metres from people outside of your household is not a legal requirement.

Wales’s road map for exiting the coronavirus lockdown is to be published by the end of the week, Mr Drakeford has said.

He told Members of the Senedd the plan was “still being worked on” and needed to be “readily understood by the readership of the Welsh public”.

He was answering questions from Conservative MS Paul Davies, leader of the opposition, on whether scientific advice underpinning the road map would be published by the Welsh Government.

Mr Drakeford told a session of the plenary: “I’m very glad that we are publishing the scientific and technical advice.

“I agree entirely with Paul Davies that it’s important that the public is able to see the underpinning evidence that we draw on in making these challenging decisions.

“My hope is that we will be able to make our plan for exit, as he called it, public on Friday of this week.”

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