5. Debate: COVID19 — Unlocking our Society and Economy: Continuing the Conversation

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:11 pm on 20 May 2020.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 5:11, 20 May 2020

Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. I said in opening that I would return to the amendments laid to the motion having heard from their movers, and I plan to do that, and then, depending on how much patience you still have, I'll try and reply to some of the people who contributed to the debate, if time allows. 

Llywydd, the Government is very happy to vote in favour of the amendment that emphasises collaboration and coherence across the four nations of the United Kingdom. Our media attention focuses always on differences. The fundamental approach we are taking is common across all four Governments—a gradual unlocking of lockdown, the public health lens through which specific measures are assessed. It is not a matter, as some contributors have suggested, of our approach diverging from the United Kingdom. There is no template against which everybody else is judged. In fact, in many ways, I think an analysis of what has happened recently would suggest that it is the Government in respect of its English responsibilities that has chosen to diverge from everybody else. 

But what we will be about is not, as Darren Millar suggested, looking to lift particular restrictions at the same time. Our lens is about lifting restrictions at the right time. And that is a far more important lens through which to view things. And the more we are able to talk with our colleagues in other Governments of the United Kingdom, the more likely we are to agree on the right measures and what is the right time, and that remains my ambition—to contribute positively to that possibility. 

The second amendment on the order paper, Llywydd, draws attention again to those who have lost their lives and those who are left behind to grieve. I try to say at every press conference and every statement that, behind the figures we quote on these occasions lie individuals, with lives that could have continued for longer, and a human cost that remains behind. The Government will support the amendment, having heard what Darren Millar had to say, having heard from Rhianon Passmore in her eloquent description of the disproportionate impact that this virus has on some people and some places. What we will not be doing, Llywydd, is to take the advice of Mr Hamilton and his calls to be bold. His calls to be bold are—. The price of his call to be bold would be paid for in the lives of other people. And I remember that every time we have a decision to make here in the Welsh Government—that there are real people, with real families and real lives to lead, and I am not going to be bold at their expense. 

Amendment 4, Llywydd, calls for an increase in the maximum fines that can be issued for non-compliance with public health regulations. I'm very grateful to our chief constables and police and crime commissioners for the close co-operation we have enjoyed during the crisis, and for the evidence that they submitted to the Welsh Government at the start of this week. I intend to act on that evidence in advance of the coming bank holiday weekend.