Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:20 pm on 28 March 2023.
In the absence of any controls on food imported into Britain, we will continue to attract criminals intent on presenting food that is not what it says on the label, whether it's imported meat, reared to lower animal welfare standards or avoidable carbon emissions, or whether it's honey adulterated with water or cheap sugar syrups. Exiting the EU has left us naked to fraud by criminals, and the question is whether or not this procurement Bill fills those gaps. I appreciate that there's a huge amount of value in enabling businesses to trade across Britain without having to have another layer of regulations. Transparency is essential, but unless there is enforcement of the regulations, then they're not worth the paper they're written on. So, for example, our success in obtaining PGI status for a range of Welsh produce, whether it's salt marsh lamb, Welsh leeks, cockles or honey, will come to nought unless we have simple, transparent enforcement of regulations.
I note the first bullet point in the legislative committee's report on the subject of international agreements being added to the list in schedule 9, which means that there would be no requirement to obtain consent of Welsh Ministers, either if the UK Government decided to change regulations overnight, which could have an immense impact on Welsh producers, or it could decide to do nothing in the face of significant change in international trading arrangements. We've all seen the impact of the war in Ukraine, which has caused havoc to food supplies from Ukraine to developing countries and starvation beckons for some countries. But the concern I have is that, for example, the international agreement that was signed with Australia and New Zealand by Liz Truss hasn't yet had much impact on Welsh farmers, because they are selling everything that they produce to China at the moment. But if international trade with China was interrupted on a massive scale, the result could be absolutely catastrophic for Welsh producers. And if Welsh Ministers don't have the powers to act and ensure that UK Ministers have to consult Welsh Ministers, then I don't see how Welsh Ministers are going to be able to take appropriate action, which has been provided within the agriculture Bill, to take action when there are food security risks to our country. I find the whole landscape here very fragmented.
We have the social partnership and public procurement Bill. We have this procurement Bill, and then we have the agriculture Bill. All of these things should really be meshed together, and I am not confident that they are. So, I understand and I have heard from what Rebecca Evans was saying about the importance of having clarity for producers to be able to sell to other countries, but I think we should be seriously concerned about the potential for other countries to dump stuff on us, or to adulterate things and try and sell us things that are actually not what they say on the tin. So, I look forward to hearing the remarks of the Counsel General on this important matter, because this seems to be quite serious.