Drakeford criticises UK Government: ‘The message seems to be that’s it’s all over’

Wales’ First Minister has criticised the UK Government’s Covid-19, saying that they seemed to be telling everyone that it’s all over and they could go back to doing everything as before.

Speaking with Sophy Ridge on Sky News, Mark Drakeford said that the way of doing this in Wales was to plan first and make an announcement later.

“My concerns with the UK Government are sometimes less with the substance where I think we are all broadly trying to do the same things,” he said. “I’m more concerned at the messaging. The way things are described.

“Here in Wales, I am very keen to continue to say to Welsh citizens: ‘Coronavirus has not gone away. It remains something that kills people in Wales every day. If you don’t stay on top of it you will see things going backwards. And everything we have done together thrown away’.

“And that’s a very different message I think to the message across the border. Where the message seems much more, you know, that it’s all over and you can go back to doing everything as you did before.

“I think we’re seeing around the world how that leads to flare-ups of the disease again. So in substance, I don’t think we’re that far apart, we give a much more sober message to people in Wales.

“Because we are still in a coronavirus crisis.”

 

‘Careful’

Drakeford was earlier asked whether he thought UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was opening too quickly.

“We are planning with our hospitality sector to see if we can safely reopen outdoor hospitality here in Wales,” he said.

“I had a series of very good conversations with the sector last week and we hope to conclude those conversations in the first half of next week.

“But we will continue to do things in the way we’ve done things in Wales. Carefully, cautiously, one step at a time.

“We’ve put our efforts into planning first and making the announcements second. Not making an announcement and then thinking about how you can make those things happen.”