Since the outcome of the June 23 referendum was announced, the Farmers’ Union of Wales has called for the Brexit timetable to be aligned with the current EU budgetary period – the Multiannual Financial Framework, which runs to 2020, and lays down the maximum annual amounts which the EU may spend in different policy areas.
The Union believes that it is in the interests of all countries for the UK’s withdrawal from the EU to take place as smoothly as possible and over an appropriate transition period, as opposed to the ‘hard Brexit’ advocated by some.
“We have welcomed the recent suggestion by Prime Minister Theresa May that a transition period may be sought during negotiations with the EU. The FUW is clear in its view that a support policy is needed post-Brexit if severe repercussions are to be avoided, and that devolution should be respected within an overarching UK support framework,” said FUW President Glyn Roberts.
However, there is general acknowledgement of the need to develop ideas in parallel with decisions made during trade and domestic negotiations, and that identifying specific detailed policies would be premature at this time.
“Our members have suggested a number of overarching principles that are aimed at better focussing agricultural support where it is genuinely needed, such as a needs-based allocation of post-Brexit budgets based upon the proportion of a region, which is subject to handicaps such as adverse climatic conditions and poor soil productivity, socio-economic constraints and the proportion of businesses routinely affected by market failure,” added Mr Roberts.
Other principles suggested by the FUW include the introduction of a cap on all future payments for recipients across the UK (no cap is currently applied in England) and that greater emphasis is placed upon active farmers and food security.