First Minister Mark Drakeford has responded to growing calls for a Welsh specific inquiry into the handling of Covid.
Last week WalesOnline published a comprehensive analysis of 29 key missteps in how the pandemic was handled within Wales.
Pressure has grown after Mark Drakeford said there would be no specific Welsh inquiry and instead that the should just be a single UK wide inquiry.
Opposition parties have critised this move. Plaid Cymru’s spokesman for health and care, Rhun ap Iorwerth MS said: “The loss of life, as well as the loss of freedoms, of education, and a deep economic impact will weigh heavy on us for years to come. We’ll need to look at what happened in detail, and in public, to learns lessons for the future.
"“But with so many of the relevant policy areas devolved, and so many decisions having been taken in Wales, we need a Wales-specific inquiry. Government has to take responsibility for its actions – good and bad, and there should be no avoidance of detailed scrutiny.
“In rejecting the demand for a Wales-specific public inquiry, the Welsh Labour Government is essentially agreeing to the Prime Minister’s delay, and confirming that they’re happy for Wales to be a chapter in the deferred UK inquiry. The people of Wales are owed more than that.”
At the Welsh Government press conference on Friday WalesOnline asked the First Minister about the issue saying: "Do the families of those who died not deserve to understand what happened? And should we not be learning lessons here in Wales about decisions made here in Wales, Rather than being a footnote in a UK wide inquiry?"
Mark Drakeford responded: "There is no suggestion whatsoever that we will be a footnote in a UK wide inquiry.
"Part of my agreement to be part of a UK inquiry is that there will be within a UK inquiry is that there will be a specific focus on the action that were taken here in Wales. I expect that to be a thorough investigation and I expect it to offer the answers that families in Wales are entitled to have about the way that decisions were made on their behalf during the pandemic.
"So I still believe that the best way of people getting those answers, and answers that will make the most sense for people is to have an inquiry that is able to look at both the things that went on specifically in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England where decisions were being made only on those jurisdictions but can also look at the interplay between decisions that were being made in one part of the United Kingdom and decisions that were being made for the United Kingdom as a whole.
"You really will not get a proper understanding unless you have have both sides of that coin being looked at by the same group of people, with the same sets of powers, being able to look at the experience in the round. I definitely expect that within that the Welsh experience, and experiences elsewhere will not be a foot note in anyway but will get the thorough and proper attention that they need and deserve."
