Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:49 pm on 22 June 2021.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:49, 22 June 2021

Llywydd, well, first of all, of course, to congratulate the Welsh team on proceeding to the knock-out parts of the tournament and to wish them every success on Saturday when they face Denmark in Holland.

The advice of the Welsh Government has not changed, Llywydd. It's the same advice that the Football Association of Wales and, indeed, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office have given to fans, that this is not the year to travel to watch Wales play abroad. I'm hugely grateful to those thousands of people who would dearly have loved to have been able to travel, and to have gone to support the Welsh team elsewhere, who have followed the advice that they have been given, which is that they are safer and the people that they care about are safer if they choose to stay in Wales and to support the team from here. We've seen, even in the last 24 hours, that there are players who have fallen ill as a result of coronavirus and won't be able to take part in the next stage of the tournament, and while we are in the position that we are in in Wales, with the delta variant rising and the vulnerabilities that that causes us, the advice of the Welsh Government has not changed. It remains aligned with the advice that comes from elsewhere; our advice is, 'Don't travel, enjoy the tournament, support your team from Wales.'