5. Will the First Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government's agricultural policy following the decision to leave the European Union? OAQ(5)0320(FM)[W]

Agriculture is a vital industry and I would say a vital culture to Wales in terms of the food it produces, the economic contribution it makes and the wider public benefit it delivers. Following the referendum, we’ve been actively engaging with stakeholders on the vision for the future for this area.

Thank you, First Minister, I would agree that agriculture is often as much a culture as it is an industry, and it maintains our culture. But it is clear now that some who are opposed to devolution, or anti-devolutionists, are using the opportunity that the decision to leave the European Union is giving as a way of unlocking, through the back door, the devolution process that has provided powers for agriculture and the environment to us here in the Assembly. Of course, the leader of the Conservatives here in the Chamber, unfortunately, is one of those people. Would you therefore, First Minister, join with Plaid Cymru, and with anyone else in this Chamber who wishes to do this, in a cross-party campaign with rural organisations and the farming unions to ensure that whatever happens in the wake of leaving the European Union that we wouldn’t lose a single power for agriculture or rural Wales?

I’ve said this from the very beginning, of course, that agriculture is devolved. This is not an opportunity to take away powers from the people of Wales; not at all. There may be a case for considering for some issues, as I’ve said before, such as animal welfare, having a pan-Britain policy, but only through agreement, and not by Westminster imposing it and saying, ‘You won’t have any choice on it.’ So, it’s consensus that is important here and nothing else. It may be worth talking about some kind of loose and general framework, but it is discussion and agreement that are all important. This is not an opportunity to take away powers from the farmers of Wales, the Government of Wales or the people of Wales.

You’ll no doubt be aware, First Minister, that there are administration issues for farmers who have land that straddles the Welsh-English border in terms of the basic payment scheme that, each year, lead to payments being delayed. European rules concerning cross-border claimants require each single payment agency in England and Wales to have a separate agency. Do you feel that, as a result of the UK leaving the EU, there is an opportunity here to find a system that can resolve the issue because, clearly, this is a significant issue for many farmers in Montgomeryshire?

This would mean, of course, the Welsh Government taking over payments for farmers in England, because we are far superior as a payments agency and have been for many, many years in terms of payment and in terms of speed of payment, and the last thing Welsh farmers, I suspect, would want would be to see the Rural Payments Agency delivering farming subsidies in Wales. There have been issues over cross-border farms; he is right. The reason for that is because the RPA have been slow in delivering data to us. There are better ways of doing things, that much is true, but I think it would send a chill down the spine of most Welsh farmers if they found they would have to face the same delays as their colleagues have faced in England.

Will the First Minister agree with me that leaving the European Union gives us a great opportunity in Wales to fashion agricultural policy according to our own needs? UKIP will play its full part in helping the Welsh Government to develop such a policy, which makes it all the more incomprehensible that the Government should be pursuing the line in the Supreme Court today that the powers of this Assembly are in some way going to be diminished. As a result of leaving the EU, we’ll get more power in the Assembly, not less. This is something that we should be looking forward to and welcoming, not trying to frustrate and prevent.

That’s not the view of the leader of the Welsh Conservatives, of course. Whether he is ploughing his own furrow on that, to use a term he’ll be familiar with, or whether he is speaking as a kind of proxy for the UK Government, only he knows, but he has said that he thinks this is an opportunity to remove powers from the people of Wales and, indeed, from the Welsh Government—a view that is not shared by the farming unions. He’s been pretty much hoisted by his own petard in that regard.

The one issue, and the farming unions identified this correctly this morning, that we need to get absolutely right is access to the single market. They know full well how much of a disaster it would be if they cannot sell in that market on the same terms. The difficulty is that when it comes to free trade agreements, agriculture is almost always omitted. Countries are very protective of their agriculture. We know that World Trade Organization rules if they were imposed on agriculture would mean a 70 per cent tariff on Welsh lamb going into Europe. Welsh farming cannot withstand that kind of tariff. And so, I take him at his word, but I have to say to him that what is absolutely vital for—. Well, there are two things that are vital for the future of Welsh farming: certainty over subsidies post 2020 and a fair division of the money—not a Barnett share, otherwise we’d be 75 per cent down from where we are now; and, secondly, the ability to sell in Welsh farming’s major market, which is the European Union. So, any kind of barrier, if Welsh farmers face that barrier in terms of selling to Europe, would be—and I choose my word quite deliberately here—disastrous for Welsh farming, which is why full and unfettered access to the single market has to be the defining principle for any UK Government in its negotiations with the EU.