Part of 1. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 1:40 pm on 14 September 2016.
I thank the Cabinet Secretary for that, but I didn’t hear a guarantee of the payments continuing until 2020. If she is just able to confirm that, it would be useful for everyone concerned, I think, because we can then discuss what comes afterwards, but at least we know what’s happening now.
The other issue I wanted to raise with her was that there was some confusion from the First Minister yesterday around access to the single market, which may be through a free trade arrangement, which can involve tariffs, or membership of the single market, which is something that comes, of course, with freedom of movement. Within freedom of movement, does she agree with me, and also the Wales Governance Centre, that migrant workers play an important part in the rural economy? The Wales Governance Centre says this:
‘Research on EU migrants to Wales shows no associated increase in unemployment of UK nationals in the sector, with migrants entering hard-to-fill vacancies’, and, of course, seasonal vacancies. There are 34,000 non-UK born workers employed in this sector. So, what discussions have you had with the Westminster Government for the continuation of this important migrant workforce for Welsh agriculture, and food production as well of course, which is associated with it, and doesn’t this rather beg the question, as we are talking about potentially a visa-based system, or a points-based system, that, really, Wales needs a say, if not its own migration policy?