The Farmers’ Union of Wales has cautiously welcomed the agreement between the UK and Welsh Government on changes to the UK Government EU (Withdrawal) Bill, and now looks forward to positive movement in the detail around creating frameworks fit for the future.
FUW President Glyn Roberts said: “We have, like many, been concerned about the potential for a power grab and are now pleased to see progress that goes some way to respecting devolution settlements.
“As a next step we expect to see this positive relationship develop the necessary appropriate frameworks that will help deliver the best possible results, whilst also fully respecting the need to work constructively in a spirit of cooperation and mutual respect. We have highlighted the need for frameworks from the outset.
“The true test of this relationship will be the development of a new funding mechanism for agricultural support that guarantees that Wales is no worse off out of the EU.
“That means that Wales expects 9.4% at least of any future UK agriculture budget and as proposed yesterday in the Welsh Assembly CCERA committee response to DEFRA’s ‘The future for food, farming and the environment’ consultation that the money allocated to Wales is ring-fenced for agriculture. That is the nub of our #FairFarmFunding campaign that is gaining such strong support in Wales and in Westminster.”