Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 12:09 pm on 10 June 2020.
Well, Llywydd, I disagree with the Member. As he knows, I had the very sad responsibility in my opening statement to refer to the 2,240 people who have so far lost their lives in Wales. I don't regard that as a 'nut'; I think that is demeaning to those people and to those families and to those who carry on having that experience every day and every week in Wales. So, I don't apologise for a single moment for the actions we have taken to prevent even further deaths from coronavirus. I don't dismiss for a single moment the economic damage that is being done and I'll need to attend to that properly, but I don't agree with him. I've heard him say it before—he wants to create some sort of division between what is right for people's health and what is right for the economy. What is right for the economy is to make sure that we come out of coronavirus in a cautious and careful way that does not plunge us back into a second wave with a further massive lockdown and everything that that would mean for the economy. Our way of responding to the health crisis is the best way to safeguard our economy from the enormous impact that coronavirus is having here in Wales, as it is right around the world.
Let me just respond to one further point, that of faith communities. We raised the matter on 29 April in the faith communities forum, with leaders of faith communities in Wales, about the reopening of venues for private prayer. At that point, the firm advice from leaders of those communities was that it wasn't practical for them to be able to reopen those venues in a way that is safe. I attended the last meeting of the faith communities forum last week. An enormous amount of work has gone on by those communities to put themselves in a position where they could now potentially reopen venues for private prayer. I was very impressed by all the practical things that they had thought about and were putting into place and we will consider that very seriously as we move to the end of the current three-week cycle.