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The Welsh prime minister has told Sky News that his government is carrying out “detailed planning” for a possible short national shutdown.
Speaking to Kay Burley, Mark Drakeford said a “circuit-breaking period” could be the “most effective way to turn back the tide of the coronavirus.”
“We want to act now to prevent the worst from happening, to give ourselves a better chance to get through the rest of the fall and winter,” the prime minister said.
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“If a circuit breaker is the right way to do it, then that is what we will do and we are talking and very actively preparing for that if necessary.”
He said there should be a four-nation meeting of the government’s COBRA emergency committee to “look at it together.”
Drakeford added that it was “unwise” for Boris Johnson to dismiss a second national shutdown.
“They should sit down with everyone, look at it seriously and then make an appropriate decision,” Drakeford said.
Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer is demanding that Boris Johnson put England on a “circuit breaker” lockdown for two to three weeks to coincide with the October semester, a stance supported by the Liberal Democrats.
Northern Ireland will become the first part of the UK to take such a move, with stricter restrictions. ready to be in place for four weeks.
But one minister has downplayed the possibility of another national shutdown.
When asked if England was heading for a second lockdown in the next two weeks, Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey told Sky News: “I don’t think that’s the case, but like I say, this will remain a decision that the prime minister will go ahead. “
