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Mark Drakeford said that the Prime Minister was “politically paralysed” from implementing further restrictions. He added: “The one country that stands up as not taking action to protect its population is England.”

In a Covid briefing, the First Minister of Wales announced Covid restrictions currently in place in Wales would not be relaxed.

England is the only one of the four nations that has not gone beyond Plan B measures since Omicron first reached the UK.

Earlier this week, Mr Johnson said he hoped England could “ride out” the Omicron wave without further restrictions being necessary.

The Prime Minister reiterated the impact a further lockdown would have on the economy and education, saying that “we can find a way to live with this virus”.

Mr Drakeford criticised England’s current approach, saying: “Wales is taking action, as is Scotland, as is Northern Ireland and are countries right across Europe and right across the globe.”

He added: “In England, we have a Government that is politically paralysed, where the Prime Minister is unable to secure an agreement through his cabinet to take the actions that his advisors have been telling him ought to have been taken.”

He claimed the peak of the Omicron wave was likely to be “about 10 to 14 days away”.

His remarks came after a senior epidemiologist, who has advised the Welsh and UK Governments, called for restrictions to be dropped to pre-Omicron levels.

There was a coarse reaction from Twitter users to the First Minister’s remarks.

@NasherNigel replied: “It’s Drakeford that’s doing the failing. He made the wrong call and now has to double down to save face.

“And, it will be businesses, the local economies and the people that will suffer for his pride.”

Others pointed to data which showed that the number of Covid cases per 100,000 people were higher in Wales than in England, even after Wales implemented its Boxing Day restrictions.

@PeterCosten said: “He knows we have access to data, right? He knows we can simply show that he’s wrong with this statement? Doesn’t he?”

In the past seven days, England has had the lowest number of cases per 100,000 of the four nations, with 1,787.

Meanwhile, Wales has the highest with 2,578 per 100,000.

More to follow…

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