Wales’ First Minister has predicted that no full return to normal will happen this year with social distancing measures remaining in place until at least the end of 2021. The Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s current roadmap plan has all of the Covid-19 rules lifting on the 21st of June, subject to the data allowing.
Mark Drakeford has described this ambition as “fanciful”. He went on to state that people would have to “think carefully” about how much they mix with others into the summer and beyond that. UNN’s Oliver Down understands that the First Minister is set to announce the easing of some lockdown measures on Friday.
On the comparison with England, Drakeford has said: “I would not wish to hold up the reopening of parts of the Welsh economy because rates elsewhere are not yet in the place that ours are”. But when asked about a return to normal by Boris Johnson’s June the 21st deadline, he said: “I don’t think it is realistic to say that. I think coronavirus is with us for the rest of this year. A fourth wave is baked into things now – it’s how we deal with that and have a fourth wave that is as suppressed as we can make it so that we don’t have to take the sort of drastic action we’ve had to in the last 12 months. But that does mean that things like social distancing, handwashing and respect in the way we deal with other people, thinking carefully about the number of people we mix with – I think that’s with us for the whole of this calendar year”.
Alun Cairns, who is the former Welsh Secretary, has slammed Mark Drakeford. He has said: “It seems that he is content to put Wales at a disadvantage – and from experience, he will then blame others for the relative poverty and underinvestment”.
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