12. Statement by the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs: The Impact of a 'No Deal' Brexit on the Environment, Agriculture and Fisheries

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:16 pm on 22 January 2019.

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Photo of Lesley Griffiths Lesley Griffiths Labour 6:16, 22 January 2019

Thank you. In relation to your question around whether the discussion around Welsh fruit and vegetables will be discussed at the Farming Connect conference, I’m not too sure about the agenda, but I can certainly find out and let you know.

In relation to tariffs, I can’t give you any figures, because, as you will have heard previously, they're not going to be published—and they’ve got to go through Parliament—until the end of February. But, certainly, a 'no deal' scenario could mean that some of our food could be subject to 50 per cent tariffs. That’s the highest figure I’ve heard, and, certainly last week, in the discussion I had in the quadrilateral with Michael Gove and my counterparts, those figures were used. And, as you say, it’s very dangerous that if it is a 'no deal', and the worst-case scenario for Welsh agriculture is that we allow cheap food imports at a time when our exports could then be subject to a tariff as high as 50 per cent.

Agricultural pollution is something that, obviously, concerns me greatly, and I’ve just taken some measures to look at baseline regulations, and you’ll be aware of the written statement that I’ve had. We’ve made it very clear. Fortunately, I think that Welsh Government was, looking back, pretty prescient to have brought forward the Environment (Wales) Act 2016 that we did, the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, and, certainly, when I talk to my Scottish counterparts, they can see that that was very forward looking. However, you’ll be aware that I’m taking transitionary powers from the Agriculture Bill, mainly so we can continue to pay our farmers. It’s really important that we do the same with the Fisheries Bill, because, whilst we don’t pay our fishers in the way we pay our farmers, we still have the EMFF money that we need to obviously use in a way that we have been doing. So, those powers will only be temporary, though, until we bring forward our own agricultural Bill and our own fisheries Bill.

Addressing the environment gaps is very important, and you will have heard me say in my answer to Llyr that we will be going out to consultation around how we address that gap, because the gap is very different in Wales, because of our environment Act, than what it is in the UK.