MORNING SERIAL
“THE challenge from a policy point of view is that there is clearly a difference but that is partly because England decided that having set a big target they needed to go out and use all the tests.”
Mr Gething didn’t stop there adding that he felt the English strategy was not underpinned by evidence, and implied that the way the UK Government had counted the tests was not entirely accurate. “Now other people will tell you about how many of those tests are actual tests or tests that have been sent out,” he said. “But part of the difficulty we’ve had is that the scientific underpinning of how and why you extend that policy isn’t something where there has been a fully informed debate and we don’t see that the science supports all of the differences in policy and the testing reach in England.”
In addition to these criticisms the health secretary also lambasted the UK Government’s online test booking system which at the time was telling people tests ‘are unavailable in Wales’.
He said: “It is really unhelpful because that does give a misleading impression about the availability for tests in Wales for people who need to have tests done. When actually we have different methods of getting tests to the people that need them.”
It wasn’t just between Wales and Downing Street that disagreements were starting to be made public. For several days ahead of Boris Johnson’s announcement on Sunday, May 10, there was a series of leaks about the PM’s road map out of lockdown. It seems that none of this had been discussed with the devolved administrations despite the fact they were supposed to be moving in lockstep. This led to Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon saying at her daily briefing that she would ‘not be pressurised’ into lifting measures prematurely and that Scotland could take a separate path on easing lockdown restrictions. She added that no decisions had yet been made at Cobra meetings despite the appearance that the UK Government had already decided on the course of action to take.
Sturgeon’s comments were followed the next day by some from Drakeford (almost like they were co-ordinated).
> Lockdown Wales by Will Hayward £9.99 www.serenbooks.com/ productdisplay/lockdown-wales ISBN 9781781726013