Plaid Cymru leader, Adam Price MS (Plaid, Carms. E. & Dinefwr), was in no doubt that following the toughest year in living memory, many people will be looking forward to spending time with friends and family over Christmas and New Year.
Limited relaxation of restrictions would be sensible, but it wouldn’t be worth losing progress for a sake of a few days. As well as a desire to see mass testing – as seen in Merthyr Tydfil – rolled out more generally for Covid hot-spots, would the Welsh Government consider a public information campaign similar to seasonal drink-driving campaigns to encourage the public to stick to guidelines over the festive period?
The First Minister agreed that meeting family and friends would be important but so many things would have to be balanced to allow it to happen. The desire is for a common approach to be taken across the UK – backed by scientific evidence and advice – with further discussions due this afternoon.
Any relaxation of restrictions shouldn’t be seen as an instruction to spend the period doing risky things and a public information campaign is planned.
On mass testing, a lot has been learned so far from experiences in Merthyr Tydfil – but there were potentially more important uses for the limited supply of quick lateral flow tests, such as testing in schools.
Leader of the Opposition, Paul Davies MS (Con, Preseli Pembs.), believed some of the early indications from the Welsh Government were that a tiered approach similar to England and Scotland could be introduced in Wales. If that was the case, then it was important to look at the impact there before considering it here.
Paul Davies also stressed the need to give businesses and local authorities enough time and support to prepare for any changes.
The First Minister warned that after two weeks of overall case reductions, 17 Welsh local authorities were now showing rises in the under-25 age range similar to September and October when the second wave began.
He didn’t think a tier-based approach in Wales was necessarily going to happen and, as mentioned, the Welsh Government’s preference is for a common approach across the UK in the run-up, during and immediately after Christmas and New Year.
Despite serious concerns about how the latest round of business support funding has been delivered, he argued that the Welsh Government has invested “considerable sums” to protect businesses over and above that provided from the UK Government; he called for the UK Chancellor to be more wholehearted in his support for business in the forthcoming spending review.
