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FUW president Glyn Roberts at the manifesto launch.[/caption]
The Farmers’ Union of Wales has outlined those issues which should be priorities for Assembly Members and the Welsh Government after next May’s election in its manifesto, launched today (November 30) at the Royal Welsh Winter Fair.
Speaking during the launch, FUW president Glyn Roberts said that while the manifesto deals with areas as diverse as the RDP, animal health, red tape and renewable energy, all were of direct relevance to Wales’ economy, and in particular the economy of the rural areas where almost 35 percent of Welsh residents live.
“Where better to illustrate this than here at the Royal Welsh Winter Fair,” said Glyn Roberts, who highlighted the fact that hundreds of the tradestands at the Winter Fair represented businesses which are partly or solely reliant on agriculture, some of which employed hundreds of people.
“For every business here today at the Winter Fair, which are reliant on agriculture, there are hundreds of others not present - from the village shop to the local garage, from the agricultural contractor to the local builder, all are dependent to some extent on agriculture.”
Glyn Roberts warned that withdrawal from the EU represented a major threat to such businesses and Wales’ economy as a whole, and that far more needed to be done by the next Welsh Government, to quantify the potential impacts of a withdrawal from the EU, or the further watering down of the CAP.
“Frustrated as we all are with the EU’s many shortcomings, the FUW believes that exit from the EU would cause economic collapse for agriculture and our rural economies on a scale not seen for generations.
“People voting for or against EU membership, or advocating the abolition or watering down of the CAP, need to know in detail what the likely consequences of what they advocate will be,” said Glyn Roberts.
A key demand of the FUW’s manifesto is that detailed work should be undertaken early on by the next Welsh Government to quantify such impacts - not only to inform lobbying positions ahead of a vote on EU membership, but also contingency plans, should such an exit become inevitable.
"Given the pressures from some to water down the CAP even if we remain in the EU, and the appetite for costly bureaucracy, such work is essential in terms of ensuring Assembly Members and the Welsh Government are well-informed and lobby at every level for what is best for Wales, rather than passively accepting policies which we believe would be devastating for our country,” he added.