With England, Scotland and Northern Ireland having announced plans to lift restrictions on lockdown in recent weeks, the people of Wales had been waiting with bated breath to find out what the next steps were going to be here.
Since March 23rd we have all made huge sacrifices in a bid to save the NHS and ultimately save lives. Families have kept apart, many businesses have closed and our children have had to be educated at home.
It goes without saying that none of us want to see another spike in coronavirus cases, however the people of Wales were hoping that Friday’s announcement by the First Minister would provide us with clear answers about exiting lockdown and hope for the future, sadly it provided neither.
The announcement was nothing more than a missed opportunity: a missed opportunity to get families back together, a missed opportunity to get the economy moving and a missed opportunity to get our children’s education back on track.
But worse than that, the five mile rule that the Welsh Government plans to introduce regarding families being able to get together is just plain cruel. It only suits families who live in the same urban centre. There are grandparents, parents and children across Wales that don’t who will be desperate to be reunited, but won’t be allowed under these rules, while others will be sat together in the garden next door.
The announcement was an urban solution by a Welsh Labour Government that doesn’t seem to understand that Wales is different north of the M4. It’s not surprising that the decision has caused upset and outrage for many people across North Wales.
A five-mile travel ban for meeting friends and family will let people travel from one side of Cardiff to the other, but in rural Wales it won’t let many people travel to their nearest town or village. There’s more to Wales than the cities of South Wales and the Welsh Government need to recognise that.
Instead of giving people hope, Mark Drakeford, has left many people devastated and I am calling on the Welsh Government to revisit this five-mile guideline as soon as possible.
People have gone more than 10 weeks without seeing those that matter most to them, we can not expect them to continue, particularly when others will be able to reunite. Nobody should be discriminated against because of where they live.
Friday’s announcement was also a huge missed opportunity to say something positive to business in Wales. The Welsh Government seems content to let the economy of Wales slip deeper into an economic pit that it will be difficult to clamber out of, without a care for many businesses and the livelihoods that depend on them, many of which are already ready to implement proper social distancing and re-open their premises to help the economy bounce back.
Whilst the rest of the UK is allowing the careful return to a more normal way of life, here in Wales people and businesses have to wait a further three weeks to find out if similar moves will be made here.
Once again, the Welsh Government has left too many people without hope.