Decision Whether to Impose Vaccine Passports on Pubs Will Be Made at the “Last Minute”, Says Mark Drakeford

3 min read

Mark Drakeford has said that a decision on whether to extend the Welsh Government’s vaccine passport scheme to pubs won’t be taken until the last possible moment, with the Welsh First Minister adding that “circumstances and knowledge are developing so fast”. Drakeford also mentioned that imposing vaccine passports on pubs would not have been taken into consideration if the Omicron variant had never emerged. BBC News has the story.

A decision on whether to extend Covid passes to pubs and restaurants will be made at the “last minute”, First Minister Mark Drakeford has said.

Ministers are to consider whether to expand the scheme over the next week, with the next Covid rules review due on Friday.

Drakeford said the emergence of the Omicron variant has led to knowledge and circumstances developing “so fast”.

The first case of Omicron was confirmed in Wales on Friday.

Covid passes are already required for cinemas, theatres, nightclubs and large events in Wales.

They show if someone has been fully vaccinated or tested negative for Covid in the past 48 hours.

The Welsh Conservatives have said they remained opposed to Covid passes because they do not seem to present “additional benefits” to stopping Covid.

But the First Minister told Politics Wales he did not think the Welsh Government would be considering extending passes to hospitality if it had only been dealing with the dominant Delta variant.

He said: “We’ve got another week to go. We will learn a lot in that week about the Omicron virus.

“If we were to do it, it would simply be to help those businesses to stay open and still attracting customers through the door because people would feel confident that everybody else in that setting were either vaccinated or had taken a lateral flow test.

“But we haven’t made that decision, and we won’t make that decision right up until the day we have to, because circumstances and knowledge are developing so fast around the new variant that you ought to wait to have the maximum amount of information that you can.”

Sam Rowlands, Conservative Member of the Senedd (MS) for North Wales, said the Government should ensure “every part of our energies” is put in to rolling out booster jabs rather than extending use of the pass.

“With that you could see much better walk-in centres – rapid roll-out of walk-in centres across the country,” he said.

Plaid Cymru deputy leader Sian Gwenllian MS said: “We need to rely on the evidence and listen to what the experts say before bringing in any new regulations but if they are needed, they are needed.”

Drakeford said he could not claim the Covid pass scheme was making a difference “above the fact that it makes that extra marginal difference alongside everything else you do”.

Worth reading in full.

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145 Comments
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MrTea
MrTea
4 years ago

How is it possible that a flabby faced sad sack like this can be allowed to ruin lives?

Newman20
Newman20
4 years ago

Drakeford is a totalitarian in need of a new tailor!!

TheBigman
TheBigman
4 years ago

It was the plan all along. Moronic Omicron or not. It is almost as if they know what is coming….but don’t be silly this is all just natural and not planned in any way.

Pubs will be included then cafes then gyms then busses etc etc

If Omicron, and indeed covid, is as real as they say then Omicron would mean widespread natural immunity (for those unvaxxed) would be obtained in next to no time.

Obviously they don’t want that hence locking you away from anyone.

If you don’t stop this now it only gets harder and the gulags bigger.

SimCS
SimCS
4 years ago

Will someone PLEASE tell Drakeford that even the WHO says Omicron (aka: Moronic) is “very mild” and that governments “shouldn’t panic”. Yet he’s doing exactly that; panicking! He’s not a leader, he’s a rabbit frozen in headlights.

Banjones
Banjones
4 years ago

Surely this Daffy Duckford has lost all credibility.

DaveNI
DaveNI
4 years ago

“…We need to rely on the evidence and listen to what the experts say …”
Well there’s a contradiction if ever there was one

Hester
Hester
4 years ago

Do you suppose he has been to visit his son since he became King?

Lowe
Lowe
4 years ago

‘Drakeford said he could not claim the Covid pass scheme was making a difference “above the fact that it makes that extra marginal difference alongside everything else you do”.’

I could not claim that stuffing cotton wool up your nose and rubbing dung on your chest night and day would make a difference above the fact that it might make that extra marginal difference alongside everything else that you do.

TheyLiveAndWeLockdown
TheyLiveAndWeLockdown
4 years ago
Reply to  Lowe

rubbing dung on your chest night and day 

Make “social distancing” simpler for those who want it.

Lowe
Lowe
4 years ago

I hadn’t thought of that, but there you are! As well as invigorating the chest, it would provide semi-automatic social distancing! A must have policy for any aspiring totalitarian democracy like Wales!

iSAGE here I come! Surely they’ll let me join them now?

Beefbeefbeef
Beefbeefbeef
4 years ago

I this does go ahead (and I almost can’t believe they would, although I should know better by now) – then it shows total contempt for the hospitality industry at their busiest time of the year.

Beefbeefbeef
Beefbeefbeef
4 years ago

A wet flannel who has probably never spent much time in a pub is in charge of whether pubs can open or not. That is a worry.

Nitrambo
Nitrambo
4 years ago
Reply to  Beefbeefbeef

Vegetarian teetotaller (like a famous Austrian?)

paul smith
paul smith
4 years ago

So, essentially, yet more ‘government by whim and fiat’.

Martin Frost
Martin Frost
4 years ago

I am not surprised that riots have broken out in countries where Covid policies have been at their most draconian, irrational and ultimately futile. Scotland and Wales easily fall into this category. Surely during an emergency of this nature it would have been legitimate for the UK (or should we now say Federal Government) to revoke the powers of the devolved assemblies in the wider national interest instead of allowing the tail to wag the dog in this way. Sadly I can think of only one leader in modern times who would have had the bottle to take that step.

Freddy Boy
Freddy Boy
4 years ago
Reply to  Martin Frost

Westminster could be using Wales & Scotland as test beds to see what they can get away with 🤔

RTSC
RTSC
4 years ago

Sadly, the Welsh have got what they voted for: a useless, extreme left-wing Labour numpty destroying their country.

They’ve been doing it for two decades now, ever since Blair created the Welsh Assembly with a 0.5% majority in favour. You’d think they’d learn, but I’m afraid they don’t seem capable of it.

DevonBlueBoy
DevonBlueBoy
4 years ago
Reply to  RTSC

Wales, where men are men and sheep are careful

Freddy Boy
Freddy Boy
4 years ago
Reply to  DevonBlueBoy

is your Blue tinge a football reference 🤔😉

Freddy Boy
Freddy Boy
4 years ago
Reply to  RTSC

Ah – Tony Blair , a Charlatan of epic proportions 😤

Moist Von Lipwig
Moist Von Lipwig
4 years ago

The decision will taken to inflict the maximum damage.

DanClarke
DanClarke
4 years ago

Is he waiting for orders, don’t believe he’s instigating this, none of the politicians are

scepticScot
scepticScot
4 years ago

I wish the site managers would make it less easy (or reversible) to flag a comment. I sometimes hit a flag inadvertently whilst scrolling and can’t find a way to undo it.

Moderate Radical
Moderate Radical
4 years ago
Reply to  scepticScot

Just touch your screen again (assuming you’re on the blower*) and it disappears. I’ve done it loads of times. It does my nut in making me think I’ve ‘flagged’ someone or ‘commented,’ etc.

*If you’re on a computer, I imagine you’d simply click the hamster to make it disappear.

scepticScot
scepticScot
4 years ago

Thanks, Moderate Radical. Though now when I did a test flag, I got a drop down list to confirm instead of just a flag notification.

AndyPandy
AndyPandy
4 years ago

He’s going to decide at the last minute whether to introduce vaccine passports for pubs.. hmm.. I wonder which way he’ll go.. can’t imagine..

kate
kate
4 years ago

Australian TOTALITARIAN Tourism Commercial – 14 Reasons to Visit!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJqyKEWg6cg&ab_channel=AwakenWithJP

John001
John001
4 years ago

Central bank digital currency & social credit system here we come, unless people resist; try & wake them up.

Good interview, not OTT, so I can send to some friends who are still a bit Covidian and not have them shout ‘conspiracy theory’

https://www.bitchute.com/video/TxsJqEKpTYbz/

She thinks this is the reason for coming after the children; all need to be ‘on the system’.

BurlingtonBertie
BurlingtonBertie
4 years ago
Reply to  John001
LonePatriot
LonePatriot
4 years ago

Joe Rogan said his doctor, Pierre Kory, is part of a group that has used Ivermectin to quietly treat 200 Members of U.S. Congress for COVID19. Dr Simone Gold, from America’s Frontline Doctors, told that she has prescribed treatments for Congress. She still believes in her oath, but she is vocal saying she has been contacted by many in DC. Can you believe these demons? Healing for them are OK but not for us. Get your Ivermectin while you still can! https://ivmpharmacy.com

rtaylor
4 years ago

Get your Zoom connections tested my Welsh friends. Have a back-up ready to go on your laptop/tablet too. Also, livestream the bloody thing in real time so you are exempt of any Nuremburg 2.0 stuff next year.

jeepybee
jeepybee
4 years ago

As a relatively young welsh lad, with English, Scottish and Norwegian housemates, I can confirm that none of us give a shit what this Lizard says. He can go into a bin with the rest of his ilk.

Nobody2021
Nobody2021
4 years ago

The only thing being decided is how much effort they put into making it look like they don’t want to do it.

huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
4 years ago
Reply to  Nobody2021

Love it. Put a 😃 on my face.

TruthHurts2077
TruthHurts2077
4 years ago

Anyone who listens to a Rapists Dad is a c*nt. The Rapists Dad knows you’re a c*nt for doing so.

CynicalRealist
CynicalRealist
4 years ago

How exatly are pubs and restaurants supposed to plan with this hanging over them? Or are they just supposed to accept that they might have to cancel all their bookings and throw away loads of stock at the last minute?

His attitude demonstrates absolute contempt for the hospitality industry.

Nitrambo
Nitrambo
4 years ago
Reply to  CynicalRealist

Agree.Businesses need certainty. Last minute decisions might suit Gauleiter Drakeford and his political manoeuvres but are disastrous for business. It just goes to show that these politicians have never been anywhere near running a business. Drakeford couldn’t run a whelk stall, if he had it already would have gone bust.

TheyLiveAndWeLockdown
TheyLiveAndWeLockdown
4 years ago
Reply to  Nitrambo

Celtleiter Drakeford

John
John
4 years ago
Reply to  CynicalRealist

My son works as a chef in a posh restaurant in Pembrokeshire. Last year they had hundreds of pounds worth of food go to waste. This year they’re booked until after Christmas then they have a planned closure in January for 10 days. To suddenly change the rules will decimate an already struggling hospitality industry in Wales.

Victoria
Victoria
4 years ago
Reply to  John

Yes lots of food waste. Bad for finances and bad for the environment

huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
4 years ago
Reply to  Victoria

And let’s not forget the Climate Change boswellox.

TheyLiveAndWeLockdown
TheyLiveAndWeLockdown
4 years ago
Reply to  Victoria

Good for vultures who want to purchase businesses on the cheap.

Annie
Annie
4 years ago
Reply to  CynicalRealist

He hates the idea that somebody, somewhere in Wales might be having a good time.

Squire Western
Squire Western
4 years ago

#BanSeneddMembersFromAllPubs&RestaurantsForLife.

huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
4 years ago
Reply to  Squire Western

Aye, with a picture of the lot of them displayed in the pub.

They really are taking the P now with this Moronic – it’s nobbut a bloody cold.

TheyLiveAndWeLockdown
TheyLiveAndWeLockdown
4 years ago
Reply to  Squire Western

Counter the Dangerous spread of health fascism!

Show a pass to prove you work and do not have a sinecure in the Senedd.

amanuensis
amanuensis
4 years ago

Great. Given that the vaccinated have twice the infection rate as the unvaccinated it makes sense to curtail the freedoms of the vaccinated.

Well, I imagine he means it this way around — to restrict the unvaccinated when they’re less likely to be infected would be weird, and would only be indicative of a power mad person incapable of understanding actual data that challenges their mistaken (but strongly held) understanding of how the immune system works.

Backlash
Backlash
4 years ago

Of course it will be last minute, the last possible minute before MPs all sod off to their Christmas parties leaving everybody else’s festive holidays in ruins

jc83
jc83
4 years ago

Man, that guy just has one of those faces that make you want to punch and aim through it to the back of the skull!

BoJo The Great
BoJo The Great
4 years ago

Very rarely do I impulsively respond to an article with an audible yell of “What a load of bollocks!”. This moment of spontaneity was in response to the first bit that says passports wouldn’t have been considered, if it were not for the dreaded Omicron. Bollocks!!

Emerald Fox
Emerald Fox
4 years ago
Reply to  BoJo The Great

Omicron is ‘the variant’ that was predicted to arrive at this very time. They think the people are stupid. And the people keep proving this to them time and time again!

If the pubs are closed, it’s round to Drakeford’s house for a Christmas dinner then!

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