Minister, thank you for your statement this afternoon. I am someone who does believe that there should be a deal when we leave the European Union. I think that is a sensible course of action. Whenever you split from any organisation or any individual, or in a company disagreement, you're better doing it on an amicable basis, on agreed terms, than a violent shutdown. And I do hope that, in the time remaining, a deal does mature out of the Westminster political bubble, where many people seem to be in a real dogfight at the moment.

But, let's not forget that there is a deal on the table, and there are discussions around creating the atmosphere for a deal to come forward. The Labour Party, regrettably, have chosen not to enter into those discussions and, in particular, not to support the Prime Minister in her ability to secure a deal. So, I'd be grateful to understand: does the Cabinet Secretary support the principle of what the Prime Minister is seeking to achieve by creating the right conditions for a deal to emerge? Because that is vitally important, and the National Farmers Union and the Farmers Union of Wales and other farming organisations do support the Prime Minister's deal that was on the table, which I accept was rejected by all parties last week in the House of Commons. But it is a fact that, obviously, the farming unions in particular have given their support to that particular deal.

In your statement this afternoon, First Minister, you do touch on the fact that the Government here, the Welsh Government, have been working on EU preparedness since the referendum, but I find that a contradictory statement, given that the First Minister himself has indicated—or the previous First Minister, I should say—at several junctures when he was questioned on this in this Chamber that there had been no preparations put in place by the Welsh Government for a 'no deal' scenario. So, I would be interested to know what preparations the Government have been doing, as your statement indicates, over the last two years for the scenario that appears on our horizon at the moment.

I'd also like to understand how much of the £30 million that has come into the Welsh Government from the Chancellor of the Exchequer for 'no deal' preparations her department in particular has been able to secure from the finance Minister, because that's not an insignificant sum of money, and hopefully that has allowed her to obviously make certain provisions within the planning capacity of her department. DEFRA itself has had £410 million, and, in the statement, the Cabinet Minister does highlight the close working relationship with DEFRA on many issues. So, again, I'd be pleased to understand how, with that £410 million that has been made available to DEFRA for 'no deal' planning—what aspects of work are work that has been undertaken by Welsh Government and the UK Government to mitigate some of the circumstances.

It is vitally important that the work of the department is allowed to go on, and at the FUW farmhouse breakfast this morning and at the NFU council yesterday, at last night's dinner, the Cabinet Minister did indicate that 'Brexit and our land'—the response to that consultation—has now slipped back to the summer. Again, I would be grateful to understand what impact, obviously, various planning initiatives within the department are having on the day-to-day work of the department, because, obviously, many farmers, whilst knowing that the money is secure until 2022, because that's the commitment the UK Government have given, want to be able to engage in a process of formulating the next series of schemes and initiatives that will be used to obviously support the rural economy. But, as I said, from your statement last night and this morning, you clearly indicated that the 'Brexit and our land' consultation response has slipped now to the summer. Also something that has been highlighted by stakeholders is the engagement by the Welsh Government around 'no deal' planning. I'd be grateful to understand how you are communicating with all sectors in your portfolio—the environmental sector, the energy sector and the agricultural  sector—so that they understand fully what is being done by the department and the wider role that Welsh Government is playing in these preparations.

Also, if we do end up with a 'no deal' scenario, there will be opportunities, obviously, for the UK livestock sector to make up some of the shortfalls from imports into the country. If we look at beef, for example, a huge amount of Irish beef comes into the market. What preparations are you making to make sure that Welsh livestock producers are in a good place to work with processors to make up that shortfall? I draw your attention to the fact that £460 million-worth of beef is imported into the United Kingdom, predominantly Irish beef; we only export £140 million out of the UK. So, there is a huge opportunity there to bridge that shortfall if it was to come about.

I reiterate the point that I made in my opening remarks—that I believe it is vitally important that we do have a deal, and it makes sense for us to progress to a situation where we have a transition period so that we do move to an area where we can make sensible provision for the changes that we are going to unlock by our leaving of the European Union. I very much hope that over the next 60-odd days that are available to us, we do secure those conditions for a deal to come forward. But I would be grateful for answers to the questions that I've put to the Minister, and in particular, the way the Minister will be communicating with stakeholders over the weeks and months ahead so that people can fully understand the department's actions in 'no deal' preparations.