2. Statement by the First Minister: Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 1:56 pm on 20 May 2020.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:56, 20 May 2020

Well, Llywydd, let me begin by agreeing with something that Mr Reckless said, that the powers that we exercising are extraordinary, that they represent a level of intrusion into people's lives that is unprecedented, and everything we do has to be tested and tested again to make sure that it is something required to protect the health of people here in Wales. That's where the bar is for me, and we think very carefully indeed about any of the restrictions that we put in place, and we've had this debate on the floor of the Senedd in relation, for example, to second homes—whether more draconian steps should be taken to prevent people from occupying property that they own, and that a couple of months ago we wouldn't have dreamt of thinking about whether they should be prevented from doing so, and I've so far come to the conclusion that it isn't proportionate to do that. So, I just want to give him that assurance that we police this line absolutely consciously. We may come to different views on where the line should be drawn, but we are not doing it in any arbitrary or unthinking way.

I agree with what Mr Reckless has said about devolution being brought home to people in this crisis in a way that it hasn't been over the last 20 years. I doubt that it is true that in Wales people aren't aware of devolution. It is certainly true that people outside Wales and in London appear to have woken up from a 20-year sleep on the devolution agenda. I think people's views in Wales are really clear. People in Wales support the careful, cautious way in which we are exercising the lift out of lockdown. They would rather be here with a Government that puts their health, their well-being, at the very front of what we are doing, and they do not look enviously on the way in which these things are being conducted across our border.