Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:57 pm on 1 December 2020.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:57, 1 December 2020

Well, Llywydd, I listened again to what the leader of the opposition said. I offered him an opportunity to recognise the public health emergency, the lives that are at stake here, and for the third time this afternoon, he failed to do it. Now, it's all very well for him to sit there claiming that, of course, he believed it, but he could have said that, couldn't he? He could have said that. Instead, he acts as though this is a very easy set of decisions in which the balance that we have struck could have very easily been made in another way.

Let me just say this to him: just as we want to reduce coronavirus infections to save lives, so reducing them is the key to saving the economy.

'Think for a moment what would happen to our economy if we allowed infections to reach such a level that our NHS was overwhelmed. Would families seek out crowded bars and buzzing restaurants if they knew they could be infecting friends and relatives who could not be treated if they fell ill? Would we flock to the January sales if the doors to our hospitals were shut?'

Not my words, Llywydd, but Michael Gove's words at the weekend. Yes, Michael Gove's words. You would not recognise them, of course. But what Michael Gove was saying was exactly this: that unless you are prepared—[Interruption.] Unless you are prepared—. Don't point at me. No pointing.