Northern Lockdown Rules Ban Sex With Person From Another Household

Rules under the reinstated lockdown in northern England have seen a ban on sex between people from different households.

The ban has come into force today and means that people living in Greater Manchester, East Lancashire and parts of West Yorkshire could be fined £100 for meeting up with their partner in a 'private dwelling'.

But there is a silver lining.

As hotels and holiday accommodation are not counted as 'private dwellings', couples will still be able to go on holiday with one another.

So as long as you aren't staying in someone else's home, you should be fine.

However, it's also important to remember that government guidelines state: "At all times, you should socially distance from people you do not live with - unless they are in your support bubble."

This means that couples who aren't in each other's support bubbles - an arrangement to allow a person who lives alone to create a bubble with one other person - should still be observing the 1m social distancing rule.

PA

Announcing the northern lockdown on Twitter last week, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: "The spread is largely due to households meeting and not abiding to social distancing.

"So from midnight tonight, people from different households will not be allowed to meet each other indoors in these areas.

"We take this action with a heavy heart, but we can see increasing rates of Covid across Europe and are determined to do whatever is necessary to keep people safe."

He added: "We're constantly vigilant and we've been looking at the data and unfortunately we've seen across parts of Northern England an increase in the number of cases of coronavirus.

PA

"So today I held a meeting of the Government's Gold Committee and working with local leaders including for instance Andy Burnham the mayor of Greater Manchester, we've decided that we need to action across Greater Manchester, East Lancashire and parts of West Yorkshire.

"So from midnight tonight (31 July) we are banning households meeting up indoors."

The places affected by the changes are:

• Greater Manchester
• Blackburn with Darwen
• Burnley
• Hyngburn
• Pendle
• Rossendale
• Bradford
• Calderdale
• Kirklees

If you are found to have broken the new rules, you could be fined £100 for a first offence, rising to £200 for a second offence, £400 the third time, £800 the fourth, £1,600 the fifth and £3,200 the sixth time. You may also be prosecuted.

Rules will be reassessed on 19 August.

Dominic Smithers

Dominic graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History. Like you, Dom has often questioned how much use a second language has been. Well, after stints working at the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express, along with never setting foot in France, he realised the answer is surprisingly little. But I guess, c'est la vie. Contact us at [email protected]

@SmithersDom