Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:41 pm on 3 November 2021.
Thanks very much. You'll be aware that the context of that photo was that it was Boris Johnson sitting alongside our national treasure, David Attenborough, who was alert, awake and paying attention, unlike our Prime Minister, who was asleep. I think it is important, of course, for us to understand that there are times when we need to work very, very closely with the UK Government, and, actually, climate change is a good example where we do need to understand we're all interlinked, not just with the United Kingdom but with the rest of the planet. Certainly, when it comes to COVID, we need to understand that we can't draw a line around Wales and think that it's all about how we managed to contain the virus or not within our boundary within Wales. We know, for example, that the delta variant was brought in from India. Even if we wanted to shut the borders with India, we wouldn't have been able to do that, and that is the dominant variant in Wales. So, to think that we could have our own independent inquiry—it would be extremely difficult for us not to look at those kinds of issues and understand the interconnectedness, which is why the First Minister has made it absolutely clear that his preferred option is to have a UK inquiry with a very clear mandate within that for Wales. I've heard him bring that request up with the Prime Minister personally on more than one occasion, and it is really important that the Prime Minister now, Boris Johnson, follows through and undertakes to honour the kind of commitments that the First Minister was asking him to undertake in relation to that inquiry.