Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 1:36 pm on 3 February 2021.
Diolch, Llywydd. Minister, the front page of the Farmers Guardian says it all: 'NVZ Nightmare'. Now, on 8 April last year, you informed the Senedd that you were minded to introduce these regulations once the crisis had ended. You reiterated that promise another six times, most recently on 14 October. A recent report by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board found that 2020 has deepened consumer trust in the food supply chain, that farmers continue to command the deepest trust and that Welsh and UK farming is seen as environmentally beneficial. Now, despite this growing public support for our farmers and 680 coronavirus cases being reported in Wales on 27 January, where that tells me that we are not through this crisis, you laid these regulations. Why have you not kept to your word and shown some integrity by waiting until the end of this crisis before launching the Welsh Labour and Lib-Dem major assault on Welsh agriculture?