The Welsh first minister has clashed with the chair of the UK Covid inquiry over claims that it was UK government policy in 2020 to prevent devolved nations from imposing more stringent pandemic restrictions.

Giving evidence in Cardiff during the final week of his premiership, Mark Drakeford claimed on Wednesday that the UK had refused to help Wales during its firebreak lockdown because it was “policy” to not let devolved nations go further than UK on Covid restrictions.

In an unusual move, the first minister asked the inquiry to show an internal UK Treasury email discussion dated October 2020 and marked “urgent” and “for CX”, referring to then chancellor Rishi Sunak. The email conveys Drakeford’s request for the UK government to bring forward its Job Retention Scheme – an expanded version of the furlough programme – to cover Wales’s firebreak. The UK-wide scheme was set to come in on 1 November, but the Welsh firebreak was set to begin on October 23.

The email from the chancellor’s office, dated 19 October, reads: “We can’t do that as a matter of delivery (as well as policy).”

It continues: “This is not possible and anyway goes to the point we previously discussed about DAs [devolved administrations] going further than HMG [Her Majesty’s Government] on NPIs [non-pharmaceutical interventions].” Non-pharmaceutical interventions was the term used to refer to lockdowns and other rules around public behaviour such as mask-wearing.

Drakeford, who steps down as first minister next week, told the inquiry that this showed: “There is a policy of the UK government not to support the devolved administrations going further than the UK government on NPIs.”

But the chair of the inquiry, Heather Hallett, took umbrage with Drakeford’s interpretation of the email, interjecting in the hearing.

“I see that’s your reading,” she said. “I’m not sure I read it the same way. But maybe it’s open for discussion.”

Hallett interjected again to clarify why the Welsh government felt it could “blame the UK government” for lack of support in the firebreak lockdown.

Drakeford said there simply wasn’t “a level playing field”.

A national lockdown in England was announced one week after Wales’ firebreak started. It began on 5 November 2020 and lasted a full month. The Job Retention Scheme was extended during this time.

The extension of the scheme proved to Drakeford, he said, that: “When English ministers ask [the chancellor] for help he says yes; when Welsh ministers ask [the chancellor] for help he says no and that’s not fair.”

Drakeford added: “For someone who believes in the United Kingdom this was one of the hardest moments.”

openDemocracy has approached the Treasury for comment.

Earlier, Drakeford told the inquiry that Wales should have taken “more stringent action” in the pandemic.

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