6. Welsh Conservatives Debate: COVID restrictions

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:25 pm on 19 January 2022.

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Photo of Huw Irranca-Davies Huw Irranca-Davies Labour 4:25, 19 January 2022

Well, no, actually, because, Laura, we're all fed up to the back teeth with the measures in response to COVID. Every one of us is, because of the impact on our families, on businesses and so on. But one of the lessons, wouldn't you agree, that we learnt from earlier waves of this pandemic is of the need to proceed with caution and also to proceed, I have to say, early to take interventions, in order to prevent worse outcomes? And can I just refer you to the Office for National Statistics survey data for last week, which shows that the prevalence now amongst Welsh communities is one in 25, compared to one in 20 across England and the rest of the UK? If that has saved pressures on the NHS, saved lives, and now allows us to open businesses earlier, is that, in hindsight, something that even with the difficulty of this, might be well worth something, that was not nonsensical, but, actually, was a fine judgment and probably the right one?