12. The Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No. 3) (Wales) Regulations 2020

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:55 pm on 3 November 2020.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 5:55, 3 November 2020

All non-essential retail, leisure, hospitality and tourism businesses have closed—so too community centres, libraries and recycling centres. Places of worship have closed, except for funerals or wedding ceremonies. And people must not meet others they do not live with, either indoors or outdoors. Adults living alone, though, and single parents remain able to join with one other household, for reasons we have rehearsed previously in the past. 

We've provided a new £300 million package of financial support to help businesses through this challenging period. We know small businesses have been particularly hard hit, and we've introduced a £5,000 one-off payment for those required to close. This is in addition to the support that is now available from the UK Government. As we now know, following the deterioration in southern England, the UK Government has reintroduced the more generous furlough and self-employment support across the UK. 

We're using this time to plan ahead and further strengthen our preparations for winter, our contingency plans and our currently successful test, trace, protect service. I want to thank the people of Wales once again for their enormous collective effort. Police forces in Wales continue to report that the great majority of people are complying with the firebreak regulations. For the small minority that are not complying, the police and other enforcement agencies are enforcing the regulations where necessary.

There is now less than a week to go. The firebreak will end, as planned, on Monday, 9 November. As we have said many times before, it will take two or three weeks to see reduced transmission rates after the firebreak. We all need to play our part in every community across Wales to make the firebreak work, to protect our NHS and to save lives.

Yesterday, the First Minister set out the simple national rules we will put in place after the firebreak, with further details in the statement today to the Senedd. We will, of course, debate them again in the future, but we all need to take personal responsibility for our choices and actions. This is more important than new rules, regulations or guidance. We need everyone to positively change our behaviour to protect people from the harm of the virus. Shops, hospitality, places of worship and gyms will reopen and all pupils will go back to school next week. From next Monday, people should only meet with their bubble in their own home, and only two households will be able to form a bubble. There'll be no travel restrictions inside Wales, but during the month-long lockdown in England, travel to and from England will not be permitted without a reasonable excuse. Everybody should, however, consider carefully whether they need to travel to other parts of Wales.

We will continue to take a cautious and gradual approach to coming out of the firebreak, and we will review the position positively within a fortnight. As the First Minister said, this is particularly necessary to take account of the impact of the month-long lockdown in England. The firebreak gives all of us an opportunity to regain some control over the spread of the virus to save lives and, with Christmas approaching, to avoid a much longer and more damaging national lockdown. I ask Members to support our country and support the motion.