Welsh government preparing for circuit-breaker lockdown
Wales' first minister Mark Drakeford and Labour leader Keir Starmer - Credit: PA
The Welsh government is “very actively talking about and preparing for” a circuit-breaker lockdown in Wales, first minister Mark Drakeford has said.
Speaking to Sky News, Drakeford said “detailed planning” is under way to establish what measures would be put in place during a circuit-breaker, how long it would last, how schools would be treated, and how to come out of it.
The measures are being considered despite coronavirus having been more “effectively suppressed” in Wales than in some other parts of the UK, he claimed.
He said: “We want to act now in order to prevent the worst from happening, to give us a better chance of getting through the rest of the autumn and the winter, and if a circuit-breaker is the right way to do it then that is what we will do.
“We’re very actively talking about and preparing for that, should it be necessary.”
You may also want to watch:
Drakeford said “detailed work” is ongoing to allow Wales to take the same decision as Northern Ireland, where a period of intensified coronavirus restrictions has been announced, if infection figures continue to go “in the wrong direction” this week.
“I’m not announcing it today but I do want people to know we are planning very seriously, so if we do need to do it we’ll be in a position to do it and in a position to do it quickly,” he said.
Most Read
- 1 Nigel Farage loses nearly 50,000 followers after Twitter suspends QAnon accounts
- 2 Michel Barnier tells UK to be 'very careful' in Brexit diplomatic status row
- 3 Fifteen ways to fix Britain
- 4 This chumocracy is costing our country
- 5 Holyrood in talks with EU to extend Erasmus scheme to Scottish students
- 6 Independent SAGE adviser gives scathing assessment of Priti Patel's £800 Covid fines
- 7 Susanna Reid takes on Priti Patel over government's gaslighting of public on coronavirus
- 8 Bob Geldof takes swipe at No 10 saying 'lying is second nature' to them
- 9 George Osborne hopes for Brexit dividend
- 10 Boris Johnson faces ‘mother of all arguments’ over Covid restrictions next month
The first minister said his Government will look at the coronavirus figures in Wales during the rest of this week to decide whether the circuit-breaker is necessary.
Drakeford also said comments by UK government minister Therese Coffey about a circuit-breaker not being the right move “fly in the face of the advice of Sage”, and he repeated his call for a four-nation Cobra meeting to discuss the experts’ scientific evidence.
“I don’t think it is sensible for the UK government to dismiss that idea, they ought to sit down with everybody, look at it seriously, and then make a proper decision,” he said.
Become a Supporter
The New European is proud of its journalism and we hope you are proud of it too. We believe our voice is important - both in representing the pro-EU perspective and also to help rebalance the right wing extremes of much of the UK national press. If you value what we are doing, you can help us by making a contribution to the cost of our journalism.