Don’t take away our outside exercise to punish a minority · petition

What the petition asks

I think taking away outside exercise will damage many people’s mental health. Particularly those with small houses and no garden. It will also not be effective in deterring those who are flouting the rules already. Instead impose stricter sanctions on those breaking the current rules

Punishing the many to correct the behaviour of the few is not effective in schools and won’t work on the general public. This type of punishment only works when the majority take the punishing of the few into their own hands, which causes fear in the minority. I presume this is not an effect the government is intending to create. As in school the biggest effect is to create a feeling of us against them which will cause a greater number of people to ignore the government not fewer.

Why it was rejected

The UK Government or Parliament was already taking the action it asked for.

Since you started your petition the Government has relaxed the coronavirus restrictions, including relating to outdoor exericse. The Government has published an FAQ on what you currently can and can't do here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do#gatherings-public-spaces-and-outdoor-activities

You can find out more about coronavirus and how you can protect yourself and others here:

www.gov.uk/coronavirus
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

The Government has also created an online service to help you find out what you can do if you’re struggling because of coronavirus: https://www.gov.uk/find-coronavirus-support

You can read NHS tips to help if you are worried about coronavirus here: https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/coronavirus-covid-19-anxiety-tips

You can read impartial analysis of the Government response to coronavirus and policy developments here: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/coronavirus/

You may also be interested to know that because of the large number of petitions that have been started in relation to coronavirus, the Petitions Committee has been questioning the Government about its response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Find out more: https://committees.parliament.uk/work/192/the-governments-response-to-coronavirus/

Timeline

5 Apr 2020	Petition opened for signatures
4 Jun 2020	Rejected by the Petitions Committee