Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:53 pm on 6 October 2020.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:53, 6 October 2020

Well, Llywydd, I thank Adam Price, other than for the final part of his sentence, because I thought up until then, he was making a very important contribution to this discussion. I think the Welsh Government's approach has been early and hard, so our thresholds for action are lower than across our border. Our threshold is 50 cases per 100,000 before we take action. It is 75 across our border. Our positivity rate thresholds are lower than they are in the United Kingdom. And he will be aware that the Welsh Government was very much criticised last week by Conservative Members of Parliament, and I think, disgracefully, Conservative Members of the Senedd, when we took action in north Wales, because we hadn't yet reached those 50 thresholds, although it was absolutely obvious to anybody who studied the figures that north Wales was on its way to that threshold—and sadly, today, is well past it.

So, we have taken early action, and action that is hard for people. I really do understand that people faced with these local restrictions are being asked to make a contribution that bites into their daily lives. But we've done that because we think, as I think Adam Price said, that if we take action early, then those actions are likely to have to last for a shorter period of time before we can restore freedoms to people. The early indications from south Wales are that we're having some success in doing just that. And while the TAC report is very sobering in what it says, and ought to be a real warning to anybody who thinks that somehow the Welsh Government is acting precipitately or imposing restrictions where they are not needed, that TAC report would surely be important for them to read. But balanced—. And there in the TAC report as well is the evidence that the actions we are taking are making a difference, and that is, as Adam Price said, the very difficult balancing act that faces any Government attempting to respond, proportionally but seriously, to the latest flare-up in figures.