11. Debate: Coronavirus

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:31 pm on 20 October 2020.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 6:31, 20 October 2020

It's a dereliction in itself that, at a moment when we are discussing these profoundly serious issues, the Conservative Party could only mobilise a single contribution to this, the most serious decision we are facing as a nation. The leader of the opposition said that we should be taking local measures. As Joyce Watson said, today it's an attempt to stir up division between rural and urban Wales—a couple of weeks ago, when his Members of Parliament were writing to me with his Senedd Members opposing local measures, it was an attempt to divide north and south.

Now, I am profoundly grateful to those people who have helped us with the local restrictions that we have had to impose, and, if it wasn't for that, things would be a great deal worse than they are in Wales today, but when the leader of the opposition says that we should leave it to those local measures, what exactly does he mean? He's a man who has made a great play over many days now of his grasp of data. What does he make of the data, then, in the local area of Swansea, where, as he pointed out to us, numbers are down today—down to 155 people per 100,000 and a positivity rate of 15 per cent? What does he make of Wrexham, another area where figures are down today, down to 201 and a positivity rate of 12 per cent? What does he make of Rhondda Cynon Taf, down again today, again to over 200 per 100,000 in the population and a positivity rate of 17 per cent? Leave it to local measures—that is the Conservative prescription offered in the Senedd this afternoon. And while those measures have been successful in helping to arrest the flow of coronavirus, they are not enough. They are plainly and clearly not enough.

Now, the other pillar in the leader of the Conservative Party's argument was that he has not seen enough data. Llywydd, I looked again, following questions earlier today, at the TAC report that we published yesterday. It provides data on the rolling seven-day average of daily confirmed cases, of the seven-day rolling sum of deaths in Wales, of the average confirmed coronavirus cases per 100,000 of the population, of the positivity rate, of the doubling time, of the reproduction number, of the number of patients in hospital, the number of patients in ICU beds. It provides an analysis on age profile, on incidents by settings and incidents by geography. It provides data and analysis from the ONS, from Bangor University, from Swansea University and Imperial College. It cites seven different data sources on mobility of the population across Wales. Llywydd, just what is it that the Conservative Party in Wales thinks it needs? What more data does it need that has not been sufficient already to convince the chief medical officer, the scientific advisory group and our own technical advisory group? Data is not just an excuse for the Conservative Party, Llywydd, it's an evasion, and it simply doesn't wash.

The leader of the Conservative Party in the debate this afternoon ended by assuring us that his Members would obey the law. It was an astonishing moment, Llywydd; he said it to us as though this was something on which they were to be congratulated. It comes to something, I can tell you, when a major party like the Conservative Party thinks it needs to assure the rest of us that its members will obey the law here in Wales. 

Llywydd, if the Conservative Party does not vote for the motion in front of the Senedd today, they will place themselves in opposition to all the expert advice we have available to us. They will let down all those people who work at the front line of our health and social care services. And, most importantly, they will let down all those people right across Wales who do everything they can every single day to help us to keep Wales safe. 

Llywydd, in contrast, can I thank Plaid Cymru for their support in bringing this motion to the floor this afternoon?