Thank you for your email regarding the impact of the Welsh Government’s restrictions on the hospitality and night-time economy sector.
I fully agree with your concerns and I want to assure you that my colleagues and I have been calling for the lifting of restrictions for some time. Whilst, I’m pleased that they have finally listened to our calls, the lifting of these restrictions is slow, despite evidence showing the latest variant of COVID-19 is much milder than previous variants.
Sadly, Wales will be the last nation in Britain to open nightclubs following the recent announcement from the Scottish Government and we know that the sector has been subject to stricter restrictions throughout the pandemic.
My colleagues and I believe that the Welsh Government has been slow to provide financial support to businesses in Wales and that the support has not gone far enough. We are therefore calling on the Welsh Government to provide more funding to businesses affected by the decision to implement restrictions, in order to compensate for the loss of revenue.
We are also concerned that the Welsh Government continues to enforce the use of COVID Passes in Wales, despite the lack of evidence on their effectiveness, and when the UK Government has announced that it will drop COVID Passes in England from 26th January. This is something that my colleague Paul Davies has raised directly with the Welsh Government’s Economy Minister this week – and you can read the exchange here from paragraph 24 - https://record.senedd.wales/Plenary/12591#A69586.
Therefore, please be assured that we will continue to challenge the Welsh Government over the way that hospitality and the night-time economy sectors have been treated through this pandemic.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.