Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Trefnydd – in the Senedd at 1:50 pm on 20 November 2019.
I think the comments that Nick Ramsey has made this afternoon just recognise how vital European funding is for our farming communities, and we've only been talking at this point about the rural development programme, but, of course, if you look at the basic payment scheme and the amount of money that that ploughs into rural enterprises and farming businesses, I think that we can recognise the important role that it plays and how we should be concerned about what comes next, because we've been really clear that we would expect the UK Government to ensure that Wales isn't a penny worse off—I know that this is something that's shared right across the Chamber—as a result of leaving the EU, and that we should have full flexibility to manage those funds here in Wales.
But I think it's really important to recognise that neither the UK Government's guarantee or a withdrawal agreement would provide the long-term replacements for EU funding. They would cover substantially all of our existing programmes for the short term, yes, but in terms of the longer term, unless there's progress on putting replacement funding on the table, then we won't be in a position to manage any new spending from December 2020 for the common agricultural policy pillar 1, and from January 2021 for other funds. So, I think it's really important that whoever is in Government in the UK following the general election provides us with that absolute clarity and certainty on the way forward, to ensure that we can support our rural economy and our farming businesses in the way that Nick Ramsey has said this afternoon.