Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:55 pm on 13 July 2021.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:55, 13 July 2021

Well, Llywydd, I met yesterday with the First Minister of Scotland, senior Members from Northern Ireland and with Michael Gove from the Cabinet Office. I think we are—. I said at that meeting that it still seems to me that every part of the United Kingdom is moving in broadly the same direction. We may be doing it at slightly different speeds and in different ways, but the essential direction of travel is the same between us all. We all want to go on lifting restrictions; we all want to do it in a way that keeps people safe.

We all made a plea through Mr Gove that the Prime Minister, in his press conference, should make it clear that he was making announcements for England only. It was disappointing, again, to find that the Prime Minister finds that such a difficult thing to do, because it would have helped—it would've helped with the clarity. And I agree with what Andrew R.T. Davies has said there, Llywydd: trying to be clear with our different populations what the position is in different parts of the United Kingdom is a challenge, and it's one we've all got to address. It would've helped if the Prime Minister had been clearer with people that he was not making an announcement for Northern Ireland or Scotland or for Wales.

I do think people at our borders have become more used to this. They've lived through 18 months of there being differences across the border, and people are more alert to it and look out for it more. We will certainly do whatever we can, once decisions are made—and the Cabinet will be meeting again tomorrow morning; we're yet to finalise all of the announcements that will be made tomorrow—we will do our best to make sure that those are as clearly communicated for Welsh citizens as we can.