Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

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

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:53, 1 December 2020

Well, Llywydd, people's lives are put at risk here in Wales through no fault of their own because of this virus. I've been listening very carefully to what the Member has said, and I'm sure, eventually, he will recognise that this is a public health emergency and that this is why these actions are being taken. I haven't heard him refer to that once in his questions so far.

Over this weekend, Ministers were in discussions with a whole range of different interest groups. We were talking with our local authority colleagues; we were talking with the trade unions; we were talking with the enforcement authorities; we were talking with the sector itself. There are no easy decisions here. There are no easy decisions of any sort at this moment. We looked very carefully at the tier 3 restrictions in England where businesses are closed completely; they don't open their doors at all. We looked carefully at the level 3 restrictions in Scotland. We looked at the SAGE review of both of those approaches, and the SAGE approach suggests that there is no public health difference between the two measures—both are successful. Because of that, we opted to follow the Scottish model, in which those businesses who choose to open will be able to go on trading up until 6 o'clock in the evening. And that was our decision, in discussion with the sector, to do what we could to balance the difficult balance between saving people's lives and having to attend to people's livelihoods. And the help we will offer to people whose businesses are affected will go beyond anything that has been on offer up until this point in Wales, and beyond anything that would be on offer to them anywhere else in the United Kingdom.