Prior to this spending review, I wrote an urgent letter to the Secretary of State for Wales, making clear my belief that the UK Government should adhere to the manifesto commitment to guarantee the current annual budget to farmers in every year of the next Parliament. The response from the Secretary of State provided me with much clarity, and let's be clear: this manifesto commitment has not been broken. The overall annual envelope is £337 million for Wales. The UK Government, however, has provided certainty on future funding in two ways. First, the withdrawal agreement states that the UK will continue to participate in all EU programmes financed by the multi-annual financial framework 2014-2020, until their closure. This ensures that there is continued access to EU funding for several rural programmes, including CAP, pillar 2, the European maritime and fisheries fund and the European regional development fund until their completion. The UK Government stands by its commitment to guarantee to fund the tail of CAP pillar 2 commitments that fall outside of the scope of the withdrawal agreement. 

Secondly, Her Majesty's Treasury have adopted a consistent approach, topping up EU receipts with exchequer funding to the level of the manifesto commitment. The real scandal is here. The Welsh Government has around £160 million left unspent of RDP 2014 to 2020. Now, my question, Minister, is: whilst I appreciate the plus 3 flexibility, will you state why the RDP budget was not spent between 2014 and 2020? What do you have to say to our farmers who, since 2014, have found the application windows to have been sporadic, under-resourced, resorted to paying advisers and consultants to assist and even those who have been turned away from support, because you were simply hoarding this funding?

Up to the end of August 2019, RDP spend stood at just 41 per cent. Little surprise, then, that the Auditor General for Wales found that the Welsh Government awarded £53 million of rural development funds without even ensuring that the grants would deliver value for money. You have failed to manage the budget effectively, and as such, will you now agree to an urgent independent review of the RDP? I'm very pleased that Plaid Cymru, and in particular Llyr Gruffydd, is echoing the Welsh Conservative calls for an independent review of the RDP. Thank you. Diolch, Llywydd.