Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:17 pm on 18 September 2018.
First Minister, unfortunately you can't lay all of the world's ills at the door of the UK Government, much as you might like to, and, of course, when the Welsh Government does get money there are numbers of devolved areas such as farming where it is your responsibility to make sure that adequate funding is there. You'll be well aware of the deep concerns of farmers, certainly farmers I met over the summer at various shows across my constituency, who are very concerned at the current consultation into plans to change the direct payment system. Now, whilst we all accept that there is a consultation there, why is it the case that that consultation did not include an option to retain the current direct payments, albeit in a modified form? Is it not the case that this is not the time to use Brexit as a cover to change the current system, because you wanted to change it all along to squeeze money out of the farming budget and put it elsewhere? This is too much and it's too complex at this point in time.