FRIENDS REUNITED
WELSH LOCKDOWN RULES TO BE RELAXED SLIGHTLY FROM MONDAY PEOPLE FROM TWO HOUSEHOLDS WILL BE ALLOWED TO MEET OUTSIDE ... BUT ONLY IF THEY LIVE WITHIN FIVE MILES, AND STAY SOCIALLY DISTANCED
PEOPLE in Wales will be allowed to meet up with others outdoors from Monday, the First Minister has said.
Mark Drakeford said a relaxing of lockdown rules meant people from two different households will be able to meet as long as they do not travel more than five miles.
Under new “stay local” guidelines, which replace the “stay at home” message previously used by the Welsh Government, people will still need to observe social distancing when meeting in public or private outdoor spaces.
Exceptions will allow for travelling to work, to seek care, and shopping for essentials if they are not available locally.
The development came as a row erupted between the Welsh Government and the UK Government – with the latter hitting out at coronavirus testing policies on this side of the border.
Meanwhile, the latest figures have shown a further 14 people died in Wales after testing positive for Covid-19.
The easing of lockdown rules will be formally set out by Mr Drakeford today at the Welsh Government’s daily press briefing, before the new rules come into force on Monday.
Further plans to relax restrictions in the coming weeks are also expected to be discussed at the briefing.
It comes as Boris Johnson announced that groups of six people can meet outside in England.
Speaking ahead of the announcement, Mr Drakeford said: “We know people have missed seeing their families and friends over the last three months while the stay-at-home regulations have been in place.
“From Monday, people from two different households in the same local area will be able to meet up outdoors. They must continue to maintain social distancing and strict hand hygiene.
“We are also asking people to stay local – by local we mean, as a general rule, not travelling more than five miles from home to reduce the risk of coronavirus spreading as people begin to travel more.
“There will be exceptions – for example, travelling to work, to seek care and shopping for essentials if they aren’t available locally. Staying local will help keep Wales safe.”
In a video posted online yesterday, Mr Drakeford thanked the public for their “help” and “sacrifice” to stop the spread of the virus.
He said: “I know being separated from family and friends is difficult.
“During this review we have been looking at how we can do this once more, in a very careful and cautious way, without increasing the risk of the virus spreading.”
But the former leader of the Welsh Conservative group has criticised the “arbitrary” five-mile restriction on travel.
Andrew RT Davies, MS for South Wales Central, said: “First and foremost, I welcome the Welsh Government’s decision to allow people from different households to meet, which is great news to many people and families in Wales.
“However, whilst this is the right course of action, the First Minister is in danger of giving with one hand and taking away with another by imposing this arbitrary five-mile travel rule. It must go.
“Not everyone in Wales lives in a town or city close to family and friends and this will unfairly impact on those in our rural communities.
“I therefore politely ask the First Minister to change this regulation prior to tomorrow’s announcement and ensure everyone in Wales can have the pleasure of seeing their family and friends next week.
“If he chooses not to, then the Welsh Labour Government should share the scientific evidence on which this decision has been made with the public.”
Earlier in the day, UK Government officials said Mr Johnson had spoken with the First Ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as well as the deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland.
A Downing Street spokesman said: “The PM made clear that as we begin to move to the next phase of tackling this virus, he remains determined to work closely with the devolved administrations. This continues to be a UKwide approach, even though we may travel at slightly different speeds based on the scientific evidence.
“He also stressed the importance of particularly close engagement on programmes that must be UK-wide to be most effective. This includes contact tracing, where coordinated systems across the UK will be critical to the next phase of our efforts. They also discussed the important work of the UK Joint Biosecurity Centre in making the response across the country increasingly targeted.
“They all agreed that continued engagement is vital and that they will remain in close contact in the days and weeks ahead.”
Yesterday Public Health Wales announced a further 14 people had died after testing positive for Covid-19, bringing its total confirmed deaths to 1,307, though the true number is known to be more than 2,000.
Another 72 cases of the virus were also reported, bringing the total of confirmed cases in Wales so far to 13,725.
Meanwhile, the Welsh Secretary has hit out at the Welsh Government, saying it may have let “politics” get in the way of extending coronavirus testing at the same pace as England.
Tory minister Simon Hart made his comments while being questioned about Wales’ response to the Covid-19 pandemic by the UK Parliament’s Welsh Affairs Committee yesterday.
Welsh ministers have been criticised by opposition parties during the pandemic for failing to increase or make full use of the country’s testing capacity.
The Welsh Government was also attacked for refusing to follow England and extend testing to all staff and residents in care homes regardless of whether there had been an outbreak, only to make a U-turn on the decision on May 16.
Virginia Crosbie, Conservative MP for Ynys Mon, asked Mr Hart what effect the Welsh Government’s “lack of testing” had on the progression of the virus and the death rate in Wales.
Mr Hart said: “I have absolutely no doubt that when sober, calm reflection on this pandemic is explored and reported on in years to come, that there will be decisions which were made which we look back and think we would have done differently had we known then what we know now.
“I think that the critical bit of my answer is that it just looks like, and the
Welsh Government will dispute this no doubt, from time to time that politics was getting in the way of the sort of decision-making pace that we needed to take in order to reach the same place at the same time.
“That accusation is not necessarily pointed at [Wales’ health minister] Vaughan Gething, I had meeting with him and [England’s health secretary] Matt Hancock early on in this process.
“But I’m trying to be generous here, I don’t think people should underestimate the scale of this challenge and it’s tested everybody.”
Mr Hart said Wales was currently testing 2,478.2 people per 100,000 of its population, while England was testing 6,576.4 people per 100,000 of its population, which he said was a “significant difference”.
Wales currently has a laboratory capacity for more than 9,000 tests a day, with capacity expected to increase to 10,000 tests a day to coincide with its test and trace plan, though figures show only 1,555 tests took place on Wednesday.
Committee chair Stephen Crabb MP asked whether “politics” had played a part in the Welsh Government initially discussing launching its own testing portal with Amazon instead of using the one for England.
Mr Hart said: “In the absence of a logical explanation, then you’re automatically left with the only explanation, being maybe it was a political decision, maybe they wanted to look different, maybe they wanted some sort of clear blue water between UK Government and Welsh Government.”
Mr Hart also cast doubt on whether the Welsh Government had contacted the UK Government about adjusting its borrowing powers, or asked for a revision of the formula used to allocate the amount of public expenditure to it.
On Wednesday, Welsh finance minister Rebecca Evans said Wales’ ability to get money to the frontline of the fight against Covid-19 was being “constrained” by “rigid financial rules imposed by the UK Government”.
The First Minister has also publicly said more money should be given to Wales to fight the outbreak.
Asked about whether the formula on funding should be revised, Mr Hart said “never say never”, but later added that “so far I have not had a request to revisit those particular formulas, but I can absolutely say that if we do they will be taken seriously”.
Mr Crabb asked fellow Conservative Mr Hart: “Are you saying that in none of the 104 meetings that you’ve had with Welsh Government ministers or officials, or any of the meetings and interactions between HM Treasury and the Welsh Government, at no point have they made a formal request for any change to the financial mechanisms?”
Mr Hart replied: “None of the ones that I have been present at.”
THERE was a further widening of lockdown rules between England and Wales yesterday – as Boris Johnson announced a “cautious” easing of restrictions over the border.
Groups of up to six people will be allowed to meet outside in England provided they stay two metres apart, the Prime Minister said yesterday.
He confirmed that all five tests required for the next phase of restrictions to begin have been met, meaning more pupils can return to school and outdoor retail and car showrooms can open from Monday in England.
The decision marks a further contrast between rules in England and Wales. Here, First Minister Mark Drakeford is today expected to announce a slight relaxation of rules from Monday.
The divergence on both sides of Offa’s Dyke led to wildly differing scenes at the nations’ beaches on bank holiday weekend, with seafronts in South Wales largely deserted as the vast majority of people observed the “stay home” message.
By comparison, many of England’s beaches were packed after some restrictions were relaxed; the scenes led to concerns that social distancing rules were not being adhered to.
Mr Johnson yesterday outlined that people in England would be able to see “both parents at once, or both grandparents at once” in what he said would be a “long-awaited and joyful moment” for many.
Mr Johnson told the daily press conference that people should “try to avoid seeing too many households in quick succession so we can avoid the risk of quick transmission from lots of different families and continue to control the virus”.
“It remains the case that people should not be inside the homes of their friends and families, unless it is to access the garden.
“I should add that, at this stage, I am afraid that those who have been asked to shield themselves should continue to do so.”
Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance stressed that the number of new infections is around one in a thousand per week – meaning that “54,000 new cases are occurring every week, so somewhere around eight or so thousand per day”.
He said: “That is not a low number, so it’s worth remembering that we still have a significant burden of infection, we are still seeing new infections every day at quite a significant rate and the R is close to one.
“That means there is not a lot of room to do things and things need to be done cautiously, step-by-step and monitored and the Test and Trace system needs to be effective in order to manage that.”
Chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty said it was “really important” that people stayed two metres apart when meeting outside – saying that they would not be counted as a contact, and therefore would not need to self-isolate, if someone they met at a distance then developed coronavirus.
Mr Johnson blocked Sir Patrick and Prof Whitty from answering questions about the row over his aide Dominic Cummings’ trip to Durham to “protect them” from a “political argument”.
The PM said: “I’ve said quite a lot on this matter already and what I also note is that what Durham police said was that they were going to take no action and that the matter was closed.
“And I intend to draw a line under the matter, as I said yesterday to the Parliamentary Liaison Committee.”
He added: “I know that you’ve asked Chris and Patrick but I’m going to interpose myself if I may and protect them from what I think would be an unfair and unnecessary attempt to ask any political questions.”
Both advisers later said they did not wish to get involved in politics after being asked if they were comfortable with Mr Johnson telling them they could not answer questions about Mr Cummings.
In other developments:
■ ONS figures suggest the average number of people with coronavirus in community settings in England remains “relatively stable”, though the infection rate among people working outside the home is around three times as high as for those working at home;
■ Prof Whitty said it is hoped that “relatively soon” the number of infections will be low enough to start letting shielded people leave home;
■ Mr Johnson said that from June 15 secondary schools in England will begin to provide “some face to face contact time” for years 10 and 12, while all shops will be able to open with social distancing measures in place;
■ Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced that people in Scotland will be able to meet one other household at a time outdoors from today as lockdown measures ease; and ■ the UK death toll linked to the virus rose to almost 48,000, while at least 189 frontline health and care workers have died after contracting Covid-19.
In a separate development, Chancellor
Rishi Sunak is facing calls to extend the scheme to support selfemployed workers throughout the coronavirus crisis.
A cross-party group of 113 MPs wrote to Mr Sunak yesterday, warning many will not be able to return to work despite the Prime Minister’s announcement on easing the lockdown.
The MPs said those workers, who include many plumbers, builders and hairdressers, “will be left without work and without support” if the scheme is not extended past Sunday.
Mr Sunak extended the furlough
programme preventing permanent lay-offs by assisting with employees’ wages until October, but he has not announced the future of the scheme for the self-employed.
The MPs, who include veteran Conservative Sir Peter Bottomley, wrote: “We are calling on you to ensure that this scheme is continued and to provide details of an extension as soon as possible.”
Siobhain McDonagh, the Labour MP who organised the letter, added: “This scheme is a lifeline for millions of locked-down workers right across the country.
“How can it be right for the furloughed scheme to continue but this scheme to not?”
The self-employment income support scheme (SEISS) offers grants worth up to 80% of average trading profits for the self-employed unable to work because of the lockdown.
It is paid in a single instalment, capped at £7,500, to cover three months of lost income.
Federation of Small Businesses national chairman Mike Cherry said: “This cross-party intervention is a critical one. Our five million-strong self-employed community is facing a devastating income cliff-edge in only a few days’ time. As the economy reopens, it will take time for demand pick up - it won’t ramp up overnight. Employees have had the assurances they need.
“We must now have the same for the self-employed.
“Equally, we need to see policymakers mapping out how they intend to support the thousands of limited company directors that have been left with no targeted support at all.”
The Treasury has said that more than £6.8bn has been claimed through 2.3 million applications to SEISS.
And at least £15bn has been claimed from the job retention scheme to cover the wages of workers placed on furlough.
Mr Sunak extended that scheme until the end of October, but said businesses will have to begin paying a percentage towards the salaries of furloughed staff from the beginning of August.
The Financial Times has reported that the Chancellor is set to ask employers to contribute 20% of wages, as well as National Insurance and pensions contributions from then.