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

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 11:57 am on 10 June 2020.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 11:57, 10 June 2020

Llywydd, I thank Nick Ramsay for both of those questions. Let me just say, once again, it is not helpful to refer to the 5-mile limit as a rule—it is not a rule. If it was a rule, it would be in regulations—it's not in regulations. It is guidance to give people a sense of what the regulation that requires people to stay local might mean in their circumstances. And the best advice is just to say to people that they're to use the 5-mile limit as a rule of thumb. They're to interpret it sensibly and soberly in their own circumstances, but there are many, many different geographies in Wales, and so long as they can demonstrate that they are acting in a way that can be defended, then they will have brought themselves within the 'stay local' rule.

There are no plans for tax erasing by the Welsh Government during the current financial year. I'm interested to hear the examples that Nick Ramsay referred to. We've tended to gather a lot of information from countries elsewhere about how they are lifting lockdown regulations and the impact that that's having in the health area. It's a useful point that the Member makes about learning from places elsewhere as they use different levers to assist the economy, as the economy recovers from the impacts of coronavirus as well.

I think most of the examples that Nick Ramsay referred to would be for the UK Government to take forward. And currently, of course, in the non-domestic-rates context, a great deal of help has already been provided in the current financial year so that businesses don't face those obligations at a time when their ability to raise revenue is at a low ebb. But I think the general point, and it's an important point, is: just as we learn from the experience of other countries in the health aspects of the coronavirus crisis, it's important we learn from them in the economy recovery as well, and we will certainly aim to do that as a Government in Wales.