Part of 2. Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for European Transition (in respect of his European Transition responsibilities) – in the Senedd at 2:54 pm on 27 January 2021.
Thank you. One example of action you could take is to encourage the Welsh Government to review the exclusion of crew members employed on a share-of-catch basis from the ERF sector-specific grant. Now, it will come of no surprise to you that I am again pleased that the Prime Minister's trade deal does allow UK goods and components to be sold without tariffs and without quotas in the EU market. However, I do acknowledge that the Farmers Union of Wales have raised concerns about the impact of trade friction on the agriculture sector. Now, during the Joint Ministerial Committee (EU Negotiations) on the trade and co-operation agreement on Tuesday 29 December, you called for the UK Government to put in place new support measures for the economy to help businesses through the transition. And the UK Government is now taking that action. I'm aware that farming Minister Victoria Prentis has been undertaking discussions with the French, the Irish and the Dutch, so will you clarify what further steps you will take to assist the agriculture sector with mitigating trade friction?