Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:54 pm on 22 September 2020.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:54, 22 September 2020

Well, Llywydd, I think Adam Price puts his finger on one of the central dilemmas that we face in Wales, because while we have a very difficult situation in a number of local authorities in the south-east Wales corner, today in other parts of Wales, in 10 local authorities in Wales today, the rate of coronavirus was still falling. I've so far not been convinced that we should treat Ceredigion as though it were Caerphilly, because the prevalence of coronavirus in Ceredigion is still at a very low ebb indeed, and it would not be proportionate to place the same level of restrictions on citizens there as we have had to ask people in Caerphilly to observe. So, a blended approach in which we have some important national messages—the work from home message is a national message, the meeting six people indoors from your extended household is a national rule here in Wales. I will want to say something later today about trying to encourage people in Wales only to make those journeys that are really necessary. In Caerphilly and the other local authorities where local lockdown measures are concerned, you can't leave the county borough without a good reason for doing so, but beyond that I think every one of us should be asking ourselves, 'Is that journey really essential?', because the fewer people you meet and the fewer journeys you make, the less danger you are posing to yourself and others. So, I think that that, as a message to people everywhere about minimising travel and staying close to home as much as you are able to, is another brick in a national wall that we can build. After that, I'm still of the same mind as Adam Price suggested that local measures for local circumstances at this point in the virus remain the right response in Wales.