No 10 has courted mockery after tweeting the wrong lockdown rules hours after an easing of restrictions in England. The official Downing Street Twitter account, which is verified and tweets on behalf of the prime minister, wrote just after 9am: “You can only meet people who don’t live with you outside. Whatever the weather.” The tweet was swiftly deleted after an angry backlash when users ridiculed the government for apparently not knowing its own guidance. Labour lambasted the “confusing and incoherent advice”. Piers Morgan called No 10 “completely clueless”. As of Saturday, official guidelines state that in England two households can meet indoors and outdoors. Special events such as weddings can go ahead with up to 30 attendees, provided physical distancing is observed. From 6am, businesses including pubs, barbers and galleries were able to reopen for the first time since the lockdown came into force on 23 March. Quoting No 10’s muddled messaging, Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, wrote: “What on earth does this advice mean? No 10 really must get its act together and quickly, over and over again issuing confusing and incoherent advice on #coronavirus.” Morgan also derided the gaffe, tweeting: “No 10 tweeted this earlier, then realised it was utter nonsense & contradicted all their new guidance re pubs, restaurants, hair salons etc - so deleted it. They’re completely clueless.” It comes after a backlash forced the Treasury to delete a tweet posted from its official account, which encouraged Brits to “raise a glass” for the reopening of pubs. The post was condemned for being in poor taste given that more than 43,000 people in the UK have died from Covid-19. Public figures including Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, said it was irresponsible government messaging at any time, let alone during a pandemic. Before the 72nd anniversary of the NHS on Sunday, during which a minute’s silence will be observed for the lives lost to the coronavirus, health workers tweeted on Saturday morning to implore people to approach the easing of restrictions responsibly. They also reminded the public the pandemic was not over. An ICU nurse wrote: “Just a friendly reminder that whilst today is an exciting day and we’re all desperate to go back to normality, coronavirus hasn’t just disappeared and there is still many of us still working to fight this. Stay safe and please drink responsibly #PubsOpening.”