Covid inquiry: Sunak rejects Welsh firebreak cash criticism

The prime minister has rejected claims that the Treasury treated Wales differently to England in autumn 2020.

Calls for extra job support for the Welsh firebreak were rejected in October 2020, and the furlough scheme was only extended after a lockdown was announced for England.

Mark Drakeford told the Covid inquiry it was one of the "most misguided decisions of the whole pandemic".

Rishi Sunak said there was "incredible benefit" to being in the UK.

The prime minister said the UK government had given extra money to Wales that month.

The comment appeared to refer to day-to-day funding for the Welsh government, and not the decision not to provide additional job support.

Mr Drakeford said at the time that requests to boost wage subsidies for the firebreak had been turned down.

In the end the furlough scheme was extended when the November 2020 lockdown was announced in England.

During October, wage support had stood at 60% but it was uplifted to its earlier level of 80% once England went into its lockdown.

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In written evidence to the Covid Inquiry the Labour first minister Mr Drakeford said: "Had we had the confidence that the UK government would provide the money needed to support people during the firebreak we probably would have implemented the lockdown earlier".

In a further segment, read out by the counsel for the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru group, he said: "The Chancellor... refused to fund the consequences of a public health decision taken in Wales.

"That decision was, in my view, one of the most misguided decisions of this whole pandemic.

"It demonstrated that the four nations of the UK were to be treated differently by HM Treasury. It was, in effect, acting as a Treasury for England, not a Treasury for the UK.

"This was vividly illustrated when, within a few days of the Welsh firebreak a similar set of measures were adopted for England."

Asked if he agreed with Mr Drakeford, Mr Sunak said: "No."

He said that the Welsh government had been given extra money upfront during the pandemic ahead of new spending decisions in England.

Normally new funds are triggered by such decisions.

"What the UK government demonstrated through the pandemic that there was incredible benefit for the people in Wales and indeed Scotland and Northern Ireland of being part of the United Kingdom.

"Because the UK as an entity had the balance sheet strength to fund what were unprecedented interventions like the furlough scheme."

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