I welcome this opportunity to discuss the Wales-wide measures announced yesterday by the First Minister. However, I also want to place on record how unacceptable it is that we weren't afforded this opportunity yesterday. The Senedd has been sidelined time and time again in favour of government by press briefing. It wasn't the case, as you were told, Llywydd, that we couldn't debate this yesterday evening as the First Minister had not yet decided, because, literally within minutes of leaving the Chamber after close of proceedings, I was told in detail by the BBC what the Government had decided. As well as being disrespectful to you, Llywydd, it undermines this institution and our roles as elected Members, it prevents proper democratic scrutiny and it's corrosive of trust. And if the First Minister wants to contradict me, perhaps he can tell us when he recorded the pre-recorded message then later relayed to the nation. 

In turning to the content of the announcement, I wholeheartedly agree with the First Minister when he says there's a very real possibility that we all have to take seriously that Wales could see the virus regain a foothold in our communities. It seems to us, however, that in the announcement last night, at least, the Government is seemingly at odds with the advice given to Ministers by the technical advisory cell, who state in their latest report published yesterday that an earlier and more comprehensive response can prevent extended lockdowns. And the evidence before us, the reason that we're having this statement, suggests that the response to date has neither been early nor comprehensive. As Wales's former chief medical officer says today, the rising wave of cases in Wales suggests that the response in Wales may not have been cautious enough. You had a traffic-light system, First Minister, but it looks like the lights went out. There was no mention of that traffic-light system nor the road map in yesterday's statement. And if we are to take Dame Deirdre Hine's critique seriously, as we surely should, we cannot halfheartedly address a full-on COVID resurgence in many of our communities, neither can we have a one-size-fits-all approach, as it fails to take into account the divergent COVID map of Wales, as you have said. 

Where special measures are required, they need to create a difference, not a headline. The 10 p.m. closing time for pubs and restaurants introduced in Antwerp to contain a steady rise in coronavirus cases led to a sustained decrease in August, but it was introduced alongside a complete curfew, a night-time lockdown, effectively, from 11 p.m. onwards. What is the evidence that the measure announced last night on a Wales-wide basis is going to have the impact that you desire? Where we have local restrictions in place in Wales, we should surely be going further—much further—by introducing the temporary, or at least earlier, closure of pubs and clubs, with accompanying sector-specific support. And in these areas, the selling of alcohol at off-licences should be restricted much earlier, to 6 p.m. or 7 p.m., which is the latest that alcohol can be bought at off-licences in Sweden. 

The guidance on travel at the moment is neither clear nor consistent. On the Today programme this morning, you said that you were not stopping people from going on holiday, however the overarching appeal is for people not to make non-essential journeys. How are they defined? Can people visit family, drive to a beauty spot, to the pub, or jump in the car and play a round of golf? It's my birthday today, First Minister, and I was planning on going with my partner to a local restaurant—should I now cancel? These are the questions that people are asking themselves across Wales. Clearly, it makes sense to stop travel from high-risk areas, but that has to include areas not in Wales. You can't go to Tenby from Blaenau Gwent, but you can from Bolton. 

Now, a national lockdown is something we should all want to avoid. If there is a window, we must seize it now without delay and with rigorous, targeted action, backed by a comprehensive communications strategy, which should involve bringing back daily news conferences. Ministers should adopt the clear but adaptable Irish approach, consisting of five levels applied locally. It's time to turn that traffic-light system back on, First Minister, before we find the whole of Wales flashing red once more.