8. The Public Health (Protection from Eviction) (Wales) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2020

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:18 pm on 15 December 2020.

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Photo of Delyth Jewell Delyth Jewell Plaid Cymru 4:18, 15 December 2020

Under the regulations, Minister, the evictions will only be prevented until 11 January, as you've set out. Of course this is welcome, but we also all know that, by mid January, we could well be in an even worse situation with the pandemic than we are now. And realistically, the impact of vaccination won't be felt until well into the spring in the best-case scenario. So, surely, we simply can't have evictions for public health reasons for a far longer period. So, we in Plaid will be voting in favour of these regulations this evening, but could I just ask the Minister why the Government keeps only staying the eviction of vulnerable people by a few weeks at a time incrementally, instead of guaranteeing that support for as long as it's necessary? Is there a technical reason why this is? Surely, the eviction of anyone during a pandemic would be unconscionable. I know that the Minister will agree with me on that point, so I'd welcome her comments just on that point, please. Diolch.