THE DETAILS of The Welsh Government’s plans for a short lockdown starting at the end of next week have been leaked online and shared on Andrew RT Davies’ Facebook page. He is the Shadow Minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the National Assembly for Wales.
He said online today: “So there we have it courtesy of Bubble Wales. The details of Mark Drakeford’s proposed lockdown across Wales are now public and below. Everything to be closed bar essential retail.
“What is the point of Senedd? The Presiding Officer needs to drag these clowns in on Monday.”
The letter, a copy of an original published by Bubble Wales, suggests that the lockdown, which will be similar in nature to the one put in place in March, will be announced on Monday and would last until Sunday, November 8.
That means the lockdown would be in place for 17 days.
However, ministers in the Welsh Government have said repeatedly that they haven’t made a decision on whether to go ahead with it yet and are due to decide this weekend.
The letter says: “[The fire-break lockdown] will take us back to the situation in March when all but essential retail outlets were open – pubs, cafes, restaurants, hairdressers etc – will all be closed.
“It covers the half term break (Friday, October 23- Monday, November 2) but some schools will reopen on November 2.
“Ministers have not yet determined the details on this; it seems that primary schools will reopen, but a decision on secondary schools will be made over the weekend.”
The letter goes on to say: “While the message for public transport will be essential journeys only, the Welsh Government is yet to decide what level of services should run over the three-week lockdown period.
“They fully recognise that changes cannot be made overnight by operators and that ramping up services is a more difficult and complex task than reducing them.”
On Friday (Oct 16) Mr Drakeford spoke about the plan as a possibility, saying: “This would be a short, sharp shock to the virus, which could turn back the clock, slowing down its spread and buy us more time – and vital capacity in the NHS.
“A “fire-break” would also mean a short, sharp shock to all our lives – it would mean shutting down businesses and the economy.
“We would all have to stay at home to once again save lives. But this time it would be for weeks not months.
“We’re considering a two or three-week “fire-break”. The shorter the period, the sharper the measures will have to be.”
ROW OVER WHO WILL PAY
The planned national lockdown for Wales still has many details to finalise before any final announcement of its terms and length.
The major sticking point is money.
During the UK-wide national lockdown from March to July, the Westminster Government picked up the tab for paying Welsh workers’ wages and provided a massive amount of extra funding for business support.
From November 1, the UK government will support eligible businesses by paying two-thirds of each employee’s salary, up to a maximum of £2,100 a month.
Businesses might also be eligible for grant support of up to £3,000 a month to meet other costs.
Devolved administrations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will receive a total of £1.3bn in increased funding this year to cover similar measures.
Businesses will only be eligible to claim the grant while they are subject to lockdown restrictions.
Council leaders across Wales have expressed their deep concern to Welsh Government ministers about the lack of any detail of what will be done to provide financial support to businesses, particularly those which are not forced to close by lockdown restrictions but close as a knock-on effect of lockdown.
Local authorities, which channelled most business support during the lockdown which began in March, have still not been told by the Welsh Government what help or how much will be available for businesses in that position, let alone how it will be delivered.
The sour relationship between the Welsh Government and Westminster is not likely to help Mark Drakeford’s administration if it looks for fresh funding help from the Treasury to bail it out of the wider economic consequences of a Wales-wide lockdown.
If the Welsh Government tries to go it alone to soften the blow, it faces making significant cuts elsewhere in its budgets.
