Paul Davies MS, the Leader of the opposition in the Welsh Parliament, has today (June 19) welcomed the First Minister’s announcement to ease lockdown restrictions in line with the repeated calls of Welsh Conservatives.

Mr Davies said:

“Finally, the First Minister has woken up to Welsh Conservative calls for a safe and sensible approach to lifting the lockdown and has at last published a timetable for the further lifting of restrictions.

“While many of today’s announcements are welcome, the Welsh Labour Government could still have gone further.

“The cruel five-mile rule - a rule that benefits those in the large urban centres only – will be lifted in a fortnight. Why not now, and why wait until Monday to allow non-essential retail businesses to re-open when they were given notice to prepare three weeks ago?

“Many retailers cannot survive just on local customers alone, They should open immediately to take advantage of trade over the weekend and to kickstart the Welsh economy.”