Wales’ first minister has hit back at Donald Trump after criticisms of his country over local lockdowns, saying he thinks Americans would be “delighted” to be more like Wales in tackling coronavirus.
Fox News presenter Laura Ingraham tweeted “Your future under Biden: ‘Rolling lockdowns’ will become norm in Wales” along with a link to a BBC News article on October 7. It was retweet by the US president.
In the article, Wales’s chief medical officer Dr Frank Atherton was quoted as saying that rolling lockdowns could take place in the country over the winter to control the spread of Covid-19.
First minister Mark Drakeford was asked to comment on Trump’s retweet during the Welsh government’s coronavirus press conference.
“I think the tweet that the president retweeted said that if Joe Biden were to be elected, then the United States could look like Wales,” Drakeford replied.
“There are very, very many people in the United States who would be absolutely delighted if they had the levels of coronavirus that we have over there, if they had the sort of health service that we have available here over there, and if they had the sort of government that conducts business on behalf of their population in the orderly and careful way that we do on behalf of the Welsh population.
“So I think many people will have read that tweet and be thinking to themselves, ‘If only that could be true’.”
Most popular
The Commons laughs at Badenoch and Brexit
The right wing papers’ new Brexit hysteria
Gisèle Pelicot, person of the year 2024
Alastair Campbell’s winners and losers of 2024
