Adam Price

Carmarthen East and Dinefwr MS Adam Price has welcomed the changes to the vaccination policy, as announced by Hywel Dda Health Board this week. There are two key changes in the vaccination policy that have been implemented this week:

Funeral Directors

• Welsh Government has advised that Funeral Directors now fall into the Priority 2 category.

Care Homes

• Previously, Red Care Homes (those with ongoing outbreaks) would not be vaccinated. The reason for this was If someone had been exposed to COVID, the vaccine would not stop them from developing symptoms. This could cause confusion regarding whether symptoms post vaccination are due to the vaccine or due to COVID, which could in turn cause delays to diagnosis.
• However, the position has changed, and from the end of last week people can be vaccinated in Red Care Homes, provided the residents have had an appropriate risk assessment and where there is cohorting in place to ensure that they vaccinating patients who are not part of an outbreak. The Health Board’s vaccination team is working with GPs to undertake these risk assessments and ensure that as many residents in Care Homes are vaccinated as quickly as possible.

Carmarthen East and Dinefwr Member of the Senedd Adam Price has today warned of the possibilities of a “vaccine postcode lottery” unless distribution of the vaccine in Wales was accelerated. The Pfizer and Oxford vaccines are being distributed in Wales currently, in line with the strategy of the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation. Prioritisation for the vaccine is as follows:

1. Residents in a care home for older adults and their carers
2. All those 80 years of age and over, and health and social care workers
3. All those 75 years of age and over
4. All those 70 years of age and over, and individuals deemed clinically extremely vulnerable
5. All those 65 years of age and over
6. Adults aged 18 to 64 years with underlying health conditionswhich put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality
7. All those 60 years of age and over
8. All those 55 years of age and over
9. All those 50 years of age and over

However, the local Senedd Member reported that many people were contacting the constituency office to communicate concerns around the rollout of the vaccine.

Adam Price, Member of the Senedd for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, has welcomed progress on a flood risk management scheme that would reduce the flood risk from the rivers Loughor, Las and Marlas, in Ammanford.

This comes after National Resources Wales (NRW) gave notification of their intention to submit a full application to Carmarthenshire County Council for the construction of the scheme, which would comprise:

“Construction of 9no. flood defences (concrete walls and earth bunds) along the banks of the River Loughor and landscape planting within existing open space, with associated works comprising fish passage and gauging improvement at the Tir-Y-Dail Weir, anda  flow deflector in the river channel at the Bonllwyn A483 road bridge. “

Plaid Cymru MS Adam Price has described the news that Debenhams are set to close all their 124 UK stores as 'devastating news for Carmarthen.'

Adam Price said: 

“This news underlines the dangers facing our high streets, as many businesses struggle to survive through the Covid-19 crisis and the public health measures which limit capacity and demand. The prospect of losing an anchor store like Debenhams is a major blow to any town, but the closure of the Carmarthen store would be felt doubly hard as it occupies a central position on St Catherine’s Walk. Its closure would leave a huge hole to fill in the town centre, as it is one of the largest shops in that area of town.

Hospitality should be able to ‘hibernate’ over winter with higher financial support, Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price MS has said.

Mr Price was speaking ahead of the announcement expected from Welsh Government on new restrictions on hospitality.

The Plaid Cymru Leader said the Welsh Government must introduce ‘targeted support’ for Welsh business to allow them to ‘effectively hibernate’ over winter. Mr Price said that the ‘crippling uncertainty’ that comes with locking and unlocking was doing ‘untold damage’ to the hospitality industry.

Mr Price called for the support to be focused on Welsh-based firms rather than UK corporates and repeated the party’s calls for a mass testing programme and increasing financial support to those who have to self-isolate to £800.

On Friday, First Minister Mark Drakeford confirmed new restrictions on the hospitality and entertainment sectors and conceded it may have been a mistake not to impose stricter curbs following the “firebreak” lockdown. Specific details are expected today.

Adam Price, Member of the Senedd for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr has criticised the Welsh Government on the inconsistency of their regulations for events and attractions over the festive period.  This comes after the Light Up Wales event in Golden Grove was forced to be cancelled due to being unable to run financially as a result of Welsh Government event restrictions. Light Up Wales was going to hold a light event around the arboretum in the Golden Grove, and had designed a one-way system of travel over the 11 acre site, employed marshalls, and created purchasable capped time slots in order to ensure appropriate social distancing could be maintained for the duration of a visit.

However, as it was classified under Welsh Government regulations as an Event, and not an Attraction, the organisers, a Llandeilo based company called Fresh Productions,  were informed that they would be limited to 30 adults on-site, despite their work to ensure it could be run safely, and despite other events in South Wales like Cardiff’s Christmas at the Castle still being given the green light to continue. This raised a significant concern that there were inconsistencies in the guidance

Adam Price, the Member of the Senedd for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, has called on the Welsh Government to ensure that their commitments to projects like the Llandeilo bypass is continued. This comes after a session in the Senedd with Lee Waters MS, the Deputy Minister for Transport, where Mr Price asked:

“Are you still committed to delivering another pledge in terms of creating the Llandeilo bypass, where air pollution and the latest evidence on the impact of that, for example, on intellectual abilities, is causing great concern to people, and parents particularly, in the area?”

Carmarthen East and Dinefwr MS, Adam Price, has called for the Welsh Government to bridge the gap for rural communities who do not have sufficient mobile phone reception. The recent Coronavirus restrictions have resulted in a dramatic increase for those working at home or away from the office, and subsequently, the need for quality mobile phone signal.

Carmarthen East and Dinefwr Member of the Senedd, Adam Price, has today commented on the historic change to the make-up of Ammanford’s Town Council. This comes as the Town Council is now without a Labour representative for the first time in its history. Following the departure of Labour members this past week, the Town Council is now entirely made up of Plaid Cymru and Independent Councillors, marking a historic shift in the Council’s membership.

As the lifting of lockdown restrictions are paused across England, and further restrictions have been imposed on a large area of northwest England, Leader of Plaid Cymru Adam Price MS has called on the First Minister of Wales to follow Scotland’s lead and limit non-essential travel between English Covid hotspots and Wales.