Thanks to the Brexit Party for tabling today's debate. I think it's a timely one, because yet again we are seeing important differences between the UK Government's response to the crisis on one hand and the Welsh Government's response on the other. Why do we have these differences? The First Minister and his Cabinet colleagues, notably the health Minister, keep telling us that they 'follow the science'. What on earth does this actually mean? It's disingenuous nonsense. Their science is no different from the UK Government's science, yet they're coming to completely different conclusions. Can I say to Mark Drakeford: don't kid us that this is all down to science?The Welsh people are not children, so why not be honest with us? This is a political decision, because you want Wales to stay in lockdown for longer than England. Mark Drakeford wants to then go to the Welsh public and say, 'Look what the UK Government has done in England; they're risking people's lives.' Unfortunately, this argument falls down when we consider that Mark Drakeford and Vaughan Gething have themselves been culpable of public health crises through their totally incompetent running of the health service in Wales. They say they're so intent on protecting public health, but Vaughan Gething goes out for a family picnic on a park bench in blatant defiance of the rules he himself has brought in. Mark Drakeford makes statements that often seem to demonstrate that he does not even know what his own Government's rules are. We do need more co-ordination with the UK Government. Mark Drakeford refuses to provide this. He said today he is waiting for evidence from the UK Government, as though Westminster has somehow been remiss in not updating him. But we know that Mark Drakeford didn't even attend COBRA meetings for several weeks, when he was able to do so.

It seems to me that this omission is part of a deliberate strategy: the First Minister wants to remain out of the Westminster loop so he can push his own policies and claim he doesn't know what the UK Government is thinking. This allows him to go on pursuing his own policies in Wales that will be economically disastrous. I would like to ask the First Minister: who is going to pay for an extended lockdown here in Wales? He wants businesses to remain closed for longer, which will cost more jobs and livelihoods. Then, in a short while, he will go to Westminster with a begging bowl and ask for more money for Wales. First Minister, what do you think the UK Government will do with your begging bowl when you have decided to do things differently in Wales? In all probability, they will throw the begging bowl back in your face, so we will end up with the Welsh Labour Government after the election next year having to use its income tax powers to try and balance the books, which will mean Welsh people paying more taxes than people in England. Isn't having the Welsh Assembly turning out to be really wonderful for the people of Wales? More and more people are concluding that we will ultimately need to abolish the Assembly. Diolch yn fawr iawn.