Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:32 pm on 28 June 2016.
I’m sure, First Minister, that you, like me, regret the fact that so many farmers voted to leave the European Union and that there’s no doubt that that did happen. One of the reasons that they gave me for considering that, when I discussed the issue with them, was not that the payments were late but that penalties and fines would follow minor disagreements or minor errors, as were identified by civil servants in the claims for these payments. Now, you’ve lost a great deal of confidence among the farming community because of those penalties, when Phil Hogan and the European Commission had said that it would be possible to be flexible. Although that’s water under the bridge now, can you now actually revive the reputation of the Welsh Government among farmers by looking at the situation where penalties follow what should be a discussion between you as a Government and farmers about their payments?