Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:19 pm on 8 May 2018.
Diolch, Simon Thomas. I absolutely accept your view around the EU withdrawal Bill. I don't agree with you, and obviously the comments of both the First Minister and the Cabinet Secretary for Finance have been very well rehearsed. You ask whether I've discussed the five principles with Michael Gove and George Eustice—no, not explicitly. However, we do meet, as I say, monthly, six-weekly in quadrilaterals, and they're very well aware, and agree, that we will be bringing forward a Wales agricultural policy. I mentioned in my statement that I'm keeping options open around the UK agricultural Bill, but still, until we see even a draft Bill, I don't think we can say exactly what we will do in relation to legislation.
I hope you heard my answer to Paul Davies around the funding. You're quite right; the Treasury have said that funding is there until 2022. I committed to keep to the basic payment scheme till the end of 2019. However, I absolutely pledge that that funding—and the First Minister has also done this—will be allocated specifically to the agricultural sector and our land managers et cetera until 2022, and certainly—again, you will have heard me say this before—until the end of this Assembly term. But that will be part of the consultation also. And we have about 25,000 farm businesses in Wales, of which probably 10,000 don't access any basic payment scheme at all. So, we need to look at how we share that funding out, and that, as I say, will be part of the consultation.
I mentioned the report from your committee, and we're considering all the recommendations. It's not that we're not taking any specific—. And, obviously, I will be coming forward with the response. It's absolutely for our farmers to decide how they use their land, how they get the best out of their land. They're the ones who can tell me how they feel about that, but then it's up to Welsh Government to be able to facilitate that. Certainly, one of the things I'm hearing from them is that they want to diversify. I mentioned, again, about the hydro scheme, et cetera, and I want to be able to be in a position to help them. I think this really is a big opportunity to get our policy right, and I'm afraid I don't share the fears that you have around powers.