Clwyd West MS Darren Millar has called on the Welsh Government to ease new Covid-19 restrictions in North Wales to allow people of faith to travel across county borders to attend places of worship of their choice.
Darren made the plea after the Welsh Health Minister announced in the Welsh Parliament yesterday evening that Denbighshire, Conwy, Wrexham and Flintshire will be subject to new measures to tackle the spread of COVID-19 from 6pm on Thursday, October 1st.
The new restrictions prevent people from entering or leaving their local authority area without a reasonable excuse, such as attending a place of education, work or for health appointments.
Darren is concerned that the restrictions will affect people of faith in a significant way, as they will prevent some people from attending their usual place of worship, and is therefore urging the Health Minister to review the new rules.
Speaking in the Senedd last night he said:
“As I understand it, it's not considered to be a reasonable excuse to travel beyond your local authority border to attend a place of worship of your choice. Now, there are many people in North Wales who travel across their county borders in order to access services in churches, chapels, mosques, synagogues and temples of their faith or denomination.
“This is not something that I believe is acceptable, and I would urge you, Minister, to look at this again. You've been very considerate of faith communities generally throughout this lockdown, but spiritual well-being is just as important as mental health and physical well-being, and, therefore, I urge you to look again at that particular restriction to see whether there's some way that that can be addressed.”
The Health Minister agreed “to look again at the issue”, but added: “This is about keeping people alive in the first instance and how we then try to keep them well, and these are significant intrusions into how people live their lives. I have recognised that not just today, but on many other occasions.”
Darren added:
“I understand completely that we need to keep cases down, but we also need to be mindful of the affect these restrictions have on people’s spiritual well-being and mental health, and I therefore hope the Minister is true to his word and does look at this issue urgently.”
