I thank my group leader and party’s agricultural spokesperson for his contribution. He rightly observes that the common agricultural policy has been dominant in EU spending since, and indeed before, we joined in 1973. He’ll also be aware that that proportion of spending has come down over that time from near 90 per cent to around a half in more recent times. We talk about wanting to maintain every penny of funding, and we make this call that we are today to the UK Government in that respect. But I think we also do need to understand that there are some complexities around these issues. The overall trend in spending, or certainly the push of UK policy in CAP negotiations, has been towards a reduction and continuing fall in the share of the EU budget on this area, and, if we’d stayed within the European Union, it’s possible that a UK Government might have continued that pitch. There’s also the issue of are we talking about maintaining spending in sterling or in euro terms. Many farmers will be shortly receiving, perhaps, a significant increase in payments, at least in sterling terms, although they’ll of course be worried about the sustainability and likely future for those payments. We also have to consider what the definition is of the area of agriculture of the CAP or a broader rural development and land management policy.

I think there is also scope for improvements and opportunities in taking powers in this area within Wales. Certainly, farmers I speak to have a lot of concerns about the degree of regulation and would question whether all the activities they are required to do actually make economic sense or sense in terms of their objectives. I know the Cabinet Secretary has had similar conversations with farmers, and, at least in the near term, doesn’t hold out huge prospects for a great deregulatory bonfire. I think, from those who criticise the degree of regulation, what we really need are specific examples of regulations that should be repealed, or things that could be done in a better or more proportionate way, and I think we’d be grateful for input from the Member and others on that.

He mentions trading opportunities—yes, there are trading opportunities. The example of New Zealand is a very stark one, and, yes, I think, in a sense, agriculture in New Zealand is successful currently, but it’s a very different type of agriculture than what there was before 1984, and, on those who were in involved in the mid 1980s in production, I think many farmers suffered very severely from those changes, and moving from one system to another will not be easy and would, I think, mean a severe loss of employment and potentially associated depopulation in our rural areas.

Overall, though, I’m very grateful to the Member and others for the contributions we’ve had, and I think that we will all work together in pushing these arguments and doing the best we can for Wales in this sector, as in others.