Open pubs ‘the solution’ say Conservatives as large crowd descends for Senedd sesh

The Conservatives have called for the First Minister to re-open Wales’ pubs as a large crowd descended to drink outside the Senedd building in Cardiff Bay.

Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies said that pubs were “part of the solution, not the problem”.

He was commenting as footage showed that hundreds of people had gathered outside the Senedd in warm weather on Good Friday, without clear evidence of social distancing.

It comes only three days after another gathering on the same spot left mountains of rubbish on the steps of Wales’ parliament building.

Scenes right now on the steps of @SeneddWales 👇 pic.twitter.com/jTtCTgY13F

— Tom Harwood (@tomhfh) April 2, 2021

“This can’t continue,” Andrew RT Davies said.

“If people are ignoring the rules on the very steps where they are made then we have a big issue. It’s time Labour ministers viewed licensed premises as part of the solution, not the problem.”

The footage was posted by Tom Harwood, a journalist at the new conservative-leaning news platform GB News.

In Wales, outdoors pubs will reopen on 26 April. In England, where the rules are set by a Conservative UK Government, beer gardens will open on 12 April.

This week, Wales’ First Minister urged people not to go from Wales to pubs in England.

“Now look, that will happen. We can’t avoid it happening. I hope people will not seek to do that,” he answered.

“There is a Bristol variant of coronavirus which we’ve managed to keep out of Wales.

“And I hope people think very carefully about the actions that they take, and continue to do the things that people in Wales have done to keep themselves, and other people, safe.”