SENIOR ministers have discussed the prospect of introducing tighter lockdown controls in an effort to improve compliance with the current rules, according to reports.

The Prime Minister reportedly spoke with senior ministers on Sunday to evaluate “whether the current lockdown rules were working” in reducing the spike of coronavirus cases.

A national newspaper said the Government was considering scrapping the exemption allowing people to exercise with one other person from outside of their household or support bubble.

A Government source said the allowance was “being used as an excuse for people to go for a coffee in the park with their friends”, adding: “It may be we tighten up on things like that.”

Ministers are also preparing to tell supermarket bosses to get tougher on policing social distancing restrictions and mask wearing in-store, it has been reported.

People could also be asked to wear face coverings in shop queues and even at work, it was claimed.

This morning, vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said: “We don’t want to use tougher measures, the lockdown is tough, schools are shut, but it is important to remember this virus loves social interactions.

“We’re reviewing all the restrictions, but these are pretty tough at the moment. I am worried about supermarkets and people actually wearing masks and following the one-way system and making sure when it’s at capacity they wait outside the supermarket.

“I’m worried about some of the pictures I’ve seen of social interactions in parks, if you have to exercise you can go out for exercise only.”

As well as the Prime Minister’s discussions, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove was said to have chaired a separate emergency committee over the weekend during which attendees examined stricter possible measures and initiatives to boost compliance.

The Cabinet Office, asked to confirm what tighter restrictions were discussed at the meeting, pointed to words by Health Secretary Matt Hancock about the public needing to follow the stay-at-home guidance first and foremost.

Mr Hancock, asked about the prospect of sterner measures, said: “I don’t want to speculate because the most important message is not whether the Government will further strengthen the rules.

“The most important thing is that people stay at home and follow the rules that we have got.”

The Cabinet minister said the “majority are following the rules” but warned that even a single slip-up could cost lives.

“Every flexibility can be fatal… this virus is so contagious it passes on and as we’ve seen it’s deadly,” he added.

Some experts have branded the current lockdown measures not strict enough, in the face of the more transmissible variant which has spread rapidly in many parts of the country – a position the leader of the Labour Party suggested he endorsed.

Sir Keir Starmer said the current lockdown rules “may not be tough enough”.

Professor Peter Horby, chairman of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), said the Kent variant has made the situation “more risky” and that if the infection rate does not slow down then “we’re going to have to be even stricter”.