The topics included trust in politicians, football, sexism and animal cruelty as Question Time came to Newport.
The BBC panel show was recorded in Newport on Thursday. The panel was Welsh Government Labour economy minister Vaughan Gething, UK Government George Eustice, the Conservative Environment minister, Plaid Cymru MS Delyth Jewell, academic Laura McAllister and Financial Times journalist Seb Payne.
They were asked a series of questions on varied topics, such as animal cruelty based on the video of Kurt Zouma, trust in the Prime Minister, and lockdowns.
Here are the key points:
There wasn't a huge amount of support for Boris Johnson
The first question was whether the decision by the UK Prime Minister had acted too quickly in saying isolation may end for people who test positive within weeks.
Mr Eustice unsurprisingly said he thought it was the "right decision". "At some point we've got to get back to living like normal and learning to live alongside Covid," he said.
Audience members told his cabinet colleague Mr Eustice that they thought it was "purely political".
Ms Jewell said: "The Prime Minister is willing to imperil people's lives in order to save his own skin politically."
Mr Gething said Wales' chief medical officer only found out about his decision when the Prime Minister stood up in the Commons, which "cannot be right". He said the latest Wales review has been carried out with the backing of health officials, that wasn't the case in the UK.
He said there was a "risk appetite" in the UK, but not in Wales.
Laura McAllister said faith in the Prime Minister was "completely shattered" and some of the biggest rounds of applause was when Financial Times journalist Seb Payne misspoke saying the Prime Minister should resign (rather than apologise).
There were tough questions for Vaughan Gething
Vaughan Gething, previously Welsh Government health minister and now economy minister, was confronted by an audience member who lost her dad due to hospital acquired Covid. She is part of the bereaved family group who want a Wales-only inquiry and said "everyone is behind it in Wales, except Welsh Labour".
"I'm fully expecting to give evidence and answer questions in any inquiry," Mr Gething said.
"It's not for Wales to be a footnote, we're consulting on the terms of reference for the inquiry and then there will be a public consultation", he said.
Ms McAllister said it was "unforgivable" to not push for a Welsh inquiry. "If we are a mature political society with our own government, it's very well celebrating successes and criticising governments across the border. We need to get our own house in order, be challenging, be self-critical".
There was yet more criticism of Boris Johnson
In the Commons last week, the Prime Minister said Sir Keir Starmer had "failed" to prosecute paedophile Jimmy Savile. He has clarified, but failed to apologise.
Asked if he should apologise, Vaughan Gething answered first. "Of course he should. It's part of the playbook of this Prime Minister. He made these remarks... Boris Johnson is many things but he is not stupid. He knew when he made those direct and personal remarks there would be a reaction.
"It wasn't a clarification it was a dishonest version of what he said.
"What the Prime Minister says matters. This Prime Minister has a politically unfaithful relationship with the truth."
Mr Payne said: "For the good of government, for our country and the office of Prime Minister there's no question about what he should do".
Mr Eustice says those who surrounded Sir Keir were "anti-vaccination campaigners" and there was no link between them shouting at Sir Keir and the Prime Minister's comments. "If one of them mentioned Jimmy Savile which I think was mentioned, that doesn't mean that was the reason for this attack".
When host Fiona Bruce put to him that Sir Keir himself had equated the two things, Mr Eustice said: "He will obviously want to make that political point" - something which Ms Jewell and Mr Gething both strongly objected to.
Pushed whether there should be an apology Mr Eustice said he was in the debate and "it was a highly charged and highly emotive session and people say things in the heat of the moment".
Ms Jewell pushed him and said "but it was a lie". "Either the Government has fundamentally the level of public anger about this or they don't care. Either way, they are taking us for fools," she said.
Mr Gething said it was a "planned" comment and "obnoxious slur" but it was also that no thought was given to Savile's victims.
When the whole panel, and all those in the audience were asked they said the Prime Minister should apologise, his party colleague refused to change his comments repeating that the Commons was a heated environment. "This was a point when Keir Starmer was saying that whatever happened, whether he knew it or not, the Prime Minister was in a leadership position and should have been responsible for everything that was happening."
Footballers got a hammering
The panel were asked about the video of Kurt Zouma in an alleged incident of abuse against his cat.
There was repeated mention that "footballers are role models" but the panel said he shouldn't be allowed to keep his job as others in different industries would lose their job if such a video emerged.
Ms McAllister, a former professional footballer, said "he's a poor role model, to be polite".
Mr Eustice said they were "shocking scenes" and "this might well be a clear breach of the Animal Welfare Act".
Ms Jewell said people in public life had to be held to a "higher standard". "So often with football people look to footballers and so many sportspeople as role models. We've seen in Wales, Gareth Bale, and so many of our fantastic squad here but in England, last year the team really got a real sense of national pride just like we in Wales feel in our team. It's a lens through which we see society at its best but also society at its worst and when this happens there has to be consequences." She said he should be dropped by West Ham.
Vaughan Gething said: "The game needs to recognise the problems its got. Footballers are role models, people do take cues from what they do, good or bad. Think about the England team they're a real credit to the game in the way they conducted themselves in the recent tournament and they deserve better fans because of the behaviour we saw at some of those games. The Wales men's team I think they're really positive role models, football fans in Wales the reputation has changed significantly.
"If you look at other fields of life, other employees who do that sort of thing get suspended and disciplined, you don't get people saying 'you're one of my best employees it doesn't matter what you do on the outside'."
Brexit, obviously, came up
Jacob Rees-Mogg has been appointed Brexit Opportunities minister in Boris Johnson's mini-reshuffle. They were asked what opportunities Brexit offered for south Wales.
Ms Jewell said that Wales "is going to be £1bn worse off because of Brexit" due to the type of Brexit the Conservative party has opted for.
Ms McAllister said there were "few opportunities to see with Brexit" but said that the pandemic had slowed any progress on anything that wasn't Brexit. She said the UK Government's levelling up scheme has shown the Senedd is being "bypassed". "Whatever happens with Brexit we can't just having a UK Government ignoring a democratically elected government in Wales".
Mr Eustice said the "critical thing we gain from leaving the EU is regulatory freedom" - something that caused a ripple of laughter from the audience. He said when working in the environment department he saw the legislation was "stifling" and that businesses have to fill out paperwork to trade in the wider world and "the world is much larger than the EU".
He told the audience Scottish salmon exports have "increased since we've left the EU despite the fact they've got some extra admin".
'Wales will have more powers than ever'
In a week where exactly what Wales will get in terms of post-EU funding has come up, a lot. Mr Eustice said: "Wales will have more power than its ever had through being in the EU because the devolution settlement means many of the powers we're taking back from the Brussels will go straight to the devolved nations."
Mr Gething said the form of Brexit that has been chosen is causing "extra burdens" for businesses and is resulting in a loss of trade in the whole world.
"The extra paperwork makes a difference for businesses. When you see those giant lorry queues near Dover, that is as a result of having to fill out extra declarations it makes a real difference to how trade flows it's simply a matter of signing your name at the bottom of a piece of paper. That puts people off from importing and exporting."
"I just wish we could have a bit more honesty about having left the European Union."
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