Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 1:54 pm on 14 October 2020.
Thank you. You highlight two areas of great concern, and those were around our animal welfare and food standards. Of course, you are quite right; they are under threat, and the UK Government did have the opportunity to protect them in legislation and didn't do so on Monday evening with the amendments that went through the House of Lords. Your point about information not being shared with us, as the UK Government always said they would, is clearly a matter of concern to myself and my ministerial colleagues, and I'm aware that Jeremy Miles, the Counsel General and Minister for European Transition, has written to Michael Gove on that issue also.
On your specific question around horticulture, again, I think the most effective immediate step to protect people from higher prices and reduced choice would be for the UK Government to secure a trade deal with the European Union—our closest neighbours and our biggest market. We cannot produce all the fruit and vegetables that we consume in Wales because of constraints on our climate and our geography. So, trade absolutely remains essential. But you'll be aware that the Welsh Government have supported the production of fruit and vegetables here through agricultural land mapping and through horticultural business support. We've provided grants to farm businesses, we have several schemes to encourage more fruit and veg to be grown here in Wales, and I'm pleased to see these grants being taken up. I should just say, I do want to reassure Members that our food supply system is secure, but the best way to keep it that way and to avoid unnecessary price increases is, as I say, for the UK Government to secure a trade deal with the European Union.