Coronavirus Restrictions

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:35 pm on 15 December 2020.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:35, 15 December 2020

Well, the lesson, Llywydd, that I draw from the rest of the world is exactly the point that Mick Antoniw made, that Governments across Europe and more widely are having to take action in the face of the resurgence of this virus during winter conditions, with a virulence that was not predicted in the modelling that was carried out in many parts of the world. And, of course, we watched very carefully what happened yesterday in Germany, in Holland, in Italy. And I will be discussing with Michael Gove, directly, later today whether the four-nation agreement that we struck continues to have marginally more advantages than disadvantages, or whether there is a different balance that we ought to strike. In either direction, Llywydd, harm is done. Harm is done whether people get together over Christmas in a way that isn't responsible and doesn't observe all the advice we have given to people, or, if we seek to prevent people from meeting over Christmas, a different sort of harm will be done—to people's sense of mental health, to people's sense of how they can survive through this incredibly difficult year together. It is not at all a choice between one course of action that has clearly all the advantages and none of the disadvantages, and another course of action where all the disadvantages are to be found. In any direction, it is a very careful and difficult balance, with pluses and minuses on both sides of the ledger.