Drakeford: wales now planning for a firebreak lockdown
FIRST Minister Mark Drakeford says a circuitbreaker lockdown would be the “most effective way” to hold back coronavirus and confirmed the Welsh Government is “planning very seriously” for a short nationwide lockdown.
He also said he is baffled that Prime Minister Boris Johnson continues to refuse to impose travel restrictions on high-risk areas.
A circuit-breaker – also referred to as a “firebreak” measure – would see tighter restrictions put in place for a fixed period of time, in a bid to stem coronavirus transmission.
Speaking on Sky News, Mr Drakeford confirmed the Welsh Government is drawing up plans for a possible nationwide circuit-breaker period but no confirmation will be made until later this week.
Around the same time, Health Minister Vaughan Gething told BBC Breakfast that a decision on a potential circuit-breaker lockdown will be made in Wales within the next few days.
Mr Gething said: “It is a potential way forward we are actively considering and... we are going to need to make some choices about whether we are going to do that or not.
“Many people are pointing to the school half-term as a potential way to introduce a break if we are going to do so.
“The next few days will be very important but we are getting specific advice tailored to Wales to understand what that might look like.”
Mr Drakeford said “a circuit-breaker period would be the most effective way of turning back the tide of coronavirus”.
He said: “If a circuit-breaker is the right way
to do it then that is what we will do and we are very actively talking about and preparing for that should it be necessary.
“I don’t think we are absolutely at that point but the detailed work is going on so if figures continue during this week to go in the wrong direction, we would be in a position to do what our colleagues in Northern Ireland look as though they are already having to do this week.”
He added that the Welsh Government is planning “very seriously” so if they need to do it, they are able to do it “very quickly”.
He said: “We will look at the figures through the rest of this week.”
Mr Drakeford repeated his plea for a four-nation Cobra meeting to discuss the potential use of a circuit-breaker to slow infection rates and said: “There is a lot of detailed work to be done, a Cobra meeting for us to share information and look at it together would I think be a sensible next move.
“Certainly here in Wales we are doing the detailed planning we would need to do in case that is the course of action we adopt.”
On Tuesday it was revealed that Mr Drakeford wrote a letter to Boris Johnson asking him to consider a circuit-breaker lockdown. Health Minister Vaughan Gething told BBC Breakfast that Mr Drakeford is yet to receive a response from Mr Johnson.
He also confirmed they are yet to receive a response from a second letter issued to Boris Johnson in relation to restriction travel on coronavirus hotspots in England.
On Wednesday Mr Drakeford said Wales will ban entry to people from areas of the UK with high levels of coronavirus by today if Boris Johnson fails to impose UK-wide travel restrictions.
People living in Welsh local authorities under local lockdown are currently not permitted to leave the area.
Mr Drakeford said he was “baffled” as to why the Prime Minister has not imposed the same restrictions on other high-risk areas in England.
He said: “I am baffled why the Prime Minister continues to refuse this idea. I want people in high-volume areas to be prevented from going into low-volume areas anywhere in the United Kingdom. This is not a border issue for me.
“People in Wales living in Cardiff, where I am for example, are not allowed to travel to the south west of Wales to Pembrokeshire because in Pembrokeshire there is very little coronavirus in circulation.
“I simply want the Prime Minister to do that for England.
“It is a simple, straightforward, practical action that prevents the flow of the virus out of areas where there is a great deal of it, into areas where there is very little of it.”
But the Welsh Secretary yesterday claimed the proposed ban on people entering Wales from UK coronavirus hotspots “risks stirring division and confusion”.
In a letter written to Mr Drakeford asking for clarification about the restrictions, Simon Hart also expressed his concern over comments that Welsh residents “would be on the lookout” for visitors breaching them.
Mr Hart wrote: “I remain worried that, without rapid explanation, this approach risks stirring division and confusion in Wales. We both know that, in reality, communities in Wales are as hard-hit by Covid-19 as English, Scottish and Northern Irish communities.
“Your recent comment about residents in west Wales being ‘on the lookout for people who shouldn’t be in those areas’ is an example of exactly the situation we should be trying to avoid.”
Mr Hart also asked for a number of clarifications, including how the decision was made to restrict travel, legal guidance on how it is lawful, whether university students would be allowed to travel home, and how it will be enforced, all to be addressed by 4pm today.
He also asked whether holiday accommodation providers would be expected to refuse or cancel bookings from guests they believed were breaking the travel ban.
Earlier in the day, Mr Drakeford said holiday providers in Wales should not accept half-term bookings from people in areas of the UK with high levels of coronavirus.
Asked about existing bookings, he told BBC Breakfast: “I’m afraid those bookings will no longer be able to be honoured.
“It’s why we’re taking this action now to give people a good period of time to understand that, if you did book a holiday in those parts of Wales, I’m afraid that holiday will now no longer be able to take place.”
Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg called the plan for stricter measures at the Welsh border “unconstitutional”.
During business questions in Westminster yesterday, Tory MP for Rutland and Melton Alicia Kearns asked: “Can my right honourable friend confirm that it would be illegal for the Welsh Labour Government to introduce an intensive border within the UK to restrict movement between England and Wales?”
Mr Rees-Mogg replied: “What would you expect of a hard-left Labour government?
“The approach to putting a border between England and Wales is unconstitutional and will place the police in an invidious position considering that they serve the whole of the United Kingdom.
“We are one single United Kingdom and we should not have... borders between different parts of the United Kingdom.
“And I’m afraid that is what you get when you vote for socialists.”