Wales is beginning to split from the rest of Britain

‘I believe in the United Kingdom and in a successful United Kingdom’. For a committed unionist, Labour’s first minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford, has done more than most to fan the flames of nationalism during Covid-19. In taking a markedly more cautious and communitarian approach to the pandemic compared to Downing Street, Drakeford has managed to both improve his approval ratings and inadvertently led the resurgence of our long-forgotten independence movement. Wales is definitely not the same place it was six months ago.

The Welsh government’s latest divergence from Westminster is its most dramatic yet: it has announced a travel ban from Covid hotspots across the UK into Wales.

There is genuine anxiety in many parts of rural Wales about the spread of coronavirus from the North West of England, as large cities continue to be put under severe restrictions. By stopping short of making travel from lockdown areas illegal, the prime minister has left many Welsh towns and villages at the mercy of the British public’s common sense.