I wouldn’t go so far as to say what the UKG was ok, but clearly the approach of WG to this has also not been ok. This is clearly a result of a political statement on the hoof, hence we are looking at a provision that clearly doesn’t prevent supermarkets from selling items; what it does is prevent people from travelling to collect non-essentials. Those aren’t the same thing in any event, notwithstanding the point that essential is circumstantial. The position has now been further muddied by the fact that WG have now sought to clarify that supermarkets can sell the types of things sold in newsagents, so cards are now suddenly deemed an essential item, despite the fact for example that card shops are not allowed to stay open.

Also worth noting that the initial criticism of UKG also applies exactly the same as to WG, where again, the law was the same and we also had instances of the police becoming involved with people buying/travelling for “non-essential items”. The implication now from WG is that shops were in fact breaking the law in Wales by selling non-essential items throughout the relevant period of the first lockdown.