Part of 1. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure – in the Senedd at 2:19 pm on 17 May 2017.
Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. We heard during the referendum that Brexiteers like R.T. Davies and Neil Hamilton made promise after promise—[Interruption.]—yes, and you, Janet Finch-Saunders, fair enough; you made those promises as well. I think it’s worth saying that those promises were made to the farmers of Wales and the people of Wales, who were promised that they would not see a cut in the amount of money coming to Wales. Now, in rural Wales, that amounts to about €350 million a year. One thing is clear to me and that is, whichever way we leave the European Union, hard or soft, we’ll see the end of the common agricultural policy.
Does the Cabinet Secretary believe that rather than cross our fingers and hope for the best in terms of what comes next, actually we need to start focusing now on our rural economy, and we need to develop a specific rural economic development plan for Wales? That should include things like providing the right infrastructure, and I’d like to congratulate Julie James on the incredible work that has been done on superfast broadband in rural Wales, but other things like the foundational economy, the need to enhance tourism and the need to add value. But specifically, how are we going to deliver an economic development plan for rural Wales? What are the drivers? Who is going to deliver it? Because the massive pressure on local authorities means that it’s very, very difficult for them to deliver without support from the Welsh Government.