Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:47 pm on 14 September 2021.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:47, 14 September 2021

My position, Llywydd, is the one that I set out. I start from a position of scepticism about vaccine certification. That doesn't mean that I cannot be persuaded, if the evidence of their public health benefits in September, in a different context to the one that we faced in July, outweighs the disadvantages. That is a very closely balanced set of arguments, which is why the Cabinet will have a third discussion of it all, based on the best evidence that we can secure.

If the balance of advantages has tipped in favour of some use of vaccine certification, then that is what the Cabinet will collectively determine. If the balance remains on the more sceptical side of it—and if we don't see that we've reached the point where it would be beneficial—then the Cabinet will decide that as well. What we don't do is to do what the leader of the opposition appears to do: to take a position and say that, regardless of the evidence and regardless of the context, he knows what he thinks.