PLANS to allow supermarkets to sell non-essential goods ahead of smaller retailers opening in Wales has defended by the First Minister.

Mark Drakeford said Welsh households would be able to purchase non-essential goods from March 22 for the first time since before Christmas.

“It is safer to do it with shops that are open already,” he said.

The Labour leader explained this was because they are “already having to comply” with the strict and strengthened regulations passed in the Senedd this January.

He continued: “We know that these are safe places to visit and I know that environmental health officers of local authorities will be visiting those settings in the coming week to make sure that they are ready to continue to operate in that way after March 22.”

Mr Drakeford said the retail sector had advised that it needed time to reopen safely, to return staff from furlough and to demonstrate they could comply with standards in Wales.

He added: “I was also anxious about opening non-essential retail in the full sense here in Wales while no shops at all for non-essential purposes are open in England because that acts as a perverse incentive for people to travel across the border.

“That would be to break the rules in England and to break the rules in Wales but you don’t want to create the conditions in which it is more tempting for people to do that.”