Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:13 pm on 29 November 2016.
I thank Simon Thomas for raising that today. In fact, Lesley Griffiths, the Cabinet Secretary, was at the Royal Welsh winter fair yesterday. I think it was warmly welcomed; her announcement about payments by 1 December was warmly welcomed—I certainly read the quotes from the farmers’ unions—and recognising, once more, that agriculture is a fully devolved matter and has been since 1999 and we have delivered in partnership with the farming community, with the agricultural sector, in partnership in Government with you and in Government with Welsh Liberal Democrats, and also, of course, in partnership with the farming community. And that’s how we wish to take it forward. If you look at EU regulatory frameworks, of course, when they cease to apply it is for the devolved administrations, it’s for us here in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, to decide if and how—as you say, there are areas where there may be UK-wide frameworks with the UK Government—but it is our responsibility.
Now, I would dispute—in terms of the Cabinet Secretary’s engagement, it’s been full since the referendum result. Not only has she made statements that responded to this, but I think it’s worth saying again not only meeting farmers unions, industry representatives but also hosting those round table discussions on the implications of the UK’s exit from the EU.
The other point that is worth making is that, as it’s clearly been shown, Andrew R.T. Davies—we wonder what his colleagues think about his statements, I would say, over the last few days. I recognise that he’s not here today, but what appetite would there be anyway, in Westminster, to retake responsibility over agriculture in Wales? Actually, in those round-table discussions, the engagement with farmers and the unions and partners in the sector has been about how they can work with us to develop distinctively Welsh agricultural policies.
I think your second point is also very important—it’s on the record—and of course we will consider, again, how we can raise this. Of course, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government is involved in the EU committee that’s been set up; he sits on it alongside ministerial colleagues from other devolved administrations and, indeed, UK Government Ministers as well, looking at those very issues in terms of the farming workforce, which will have a particular impact not just on Wales, but on the rest of the UK.