Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 1:47 pm on 23 January 2019.

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Photo of Llyr Gruffydd Llyr Gruffydd Plaid Cymru 1:47, 23 January 2019

We had a ministerial statement from you yesterday, of course, about your preparations for the possibility of crashing out of the EU without a deal and the adverse impact that would have on agriculture and other sectors in Wales. In that statement, you said, and I quote, that you're

'committed to working with key sectors to design support mechanisms around these serious challenges'. 

Yet today, we see reports that both NFU Cymru and the Farmers Union of Wales have raised concerns about being excluded from your 'no deal' Brexit planning process. Their only involvement so far has been through a single, solitary round-table meeting that was only held last week. Clearly, time is running out, Minister, so surely your Welsh Government contingency planning group should include industry representatives, as happened in the past, of course, during the foot and mouth outbreaks in 2001 and 2007. So, could you explain to us what role those key stakeholders will play in your 'no deal' deliberations over the coming weeks? Because it is only weeks that we have left.