1. Will the First Minister make a statement on recent discussions with the UK Government regarding agriculture and countryside policies following the decision to leave the EU? OAQ(5)0468(FM)[W]

We continue to actively engage with the UK Government in relation to agriculture and countryside policies. Most recently, the Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs met with Ministers from both the UK Government and devolved administrations on 23 February in Edinburgh.

I thank the Minister for her reply. I’ve been interested in what happened in that meeting in Edinburgh. The Scottish rural economy Secretary, Fergus Ewing, said

‘Today’s meeting did not achieve anything. There was no factual information whatsoever on any of the serious matters that have been raised by farmers.’

Roseanna Cunnigham, who is the environment Secretary in Scotland, said that there had been a deflection at the meeting by Andrea Leadsom whenever the devolution issue was raised, and Scotland’s Brexit Minister, Mike Russell, said that Andrea Leadsom may have been at a different meeting than everyone else. Does the UK Government actually understand what devolution of agriculture and environmental policies means, and is the Minister, in place of the First Minister, able to give assurances that the Welsh Government will not allow any land grab of our devolved policies by the UK Government?

I can certainly assure Simon Thomas of that. And, of course, he would agree with me and the Welsh Government, in relation to the future of agriculture and environment policy in Wales, that, as a Government, we’ve been extensively engaging with stakeholders for the last six months through our round-table meetings on the implication of exiting the European Union. We’ve underlined how essential it is that devolved administrations play a full part in discussions to ensure that any negotiating position reflects the collective position of the UK as a whole, and, of course, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government attended the EU joint committee council only 10 days ago with colleagues, of course, from the Scottish Government and Northern Ireland devolved administrations.

Health experts are now telling us that we shouldn’t just eat five a day, but we need to eat 10 a day if we want to live a long life. I just wondered what discussions have been had around food security, in the light particularly of the reduction in the value of the pound, and particularly in relation to making us more self-sufficient across the UK in the production of fruit and vegetables, and I wondered whether that has been at all discussed in these UK negotiations.

This is crucially important, and, of course, we have got our action plan for the food and drink industry, working closely with food security and food safety stakeholders and partners to sustain and enhance the food production base in Wales, and actively working with the industry. And that’s about improving resilience, productivity, competiveness of food and farming businesses, and adding value to our supply chains. And, clearly, food production does put Wales at a competitive advantage, ideally suited in terms of increasing the variety of food products, but also looking to our own needs. And that’s where Wales’s farming businesses make a critical contribution to safeguarding the UK’s food security.

Leader of the house, the Cabinet Secretary responsible for agriculture has said that a UK-wide agricultural framework may be appropriate. So, in light of this, can you tell us what kind of framework the Government would want to see introduced, and can you tell us what the Welsh Government’s objective is when it comes to such a framework?

We will play an active part in developing frameworks with the UK Government, and also with the other devolved nations. I think we need to look at where UK frameworks and structures are needed to replace those currently set by the EU, but we see these as being collectively developed and agreed. That’s crucially important—collectively developed and agreed, and not imposed, and, most importantly, there must be an independent arbitration mechanism to resolve disputes over interpretation.