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

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 12:08 pm on 10 June 2020.

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Photo of Mr Neil Hamilton Mr Neil Hamilton UKIP 12:08, 10 June 2020

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is forecasting today that Britain will suffer the worst economic damage of any country in the developed world as a result of our draconian lockdown. We're forecast to see an 11.5 per cent fall in our national income for this year. That compares with 6.5 per cent in Sweden, which has followed a completely different road. We're taking an economic sledgehammer to crack a health crisis nut, because the death rate in this country from coronavirus is 602 per million, whereas in Sweden it's only two thirds of that, at 467 per million. So, we see, in Britain, a wholly disproportionate response to the health crisis.

Meanwhile, does he understand—the First Minister understand—that hard-working and law-abiding citizens wonder why they're being kept locked down, even can't go to church, even for private prayer, because such events are banned, meanwhile left-wing hooligans are allowed to run riot in the streets, desecrating war memorials, defacing and destroying public monuments, and that the response of the Government in these two cases seems to be a massive contrast and undermines the message that the Government wants to convey?