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Agricultural Policy

Wrongly reading the script is a regular occurrence for the Government on many rural policies, but it is an interesting point, and perhaps this right-wing Government’s Liberal Democrat fellow travellers will care to explain themselves. Sucking money out of the rural economy by abolishing the Agricultural Wages Board will leech expenditure out of the area where agricultural workers live. It will come out of pubs, post offices, local shops and farm businesses, depressing the rural economy at a time when spending in Wales is already squeezed, and causing even more job losses. Labour wants the common agricultural policy reform to encourage growth, a secure food supply, and environmental benefits for Wales. The farmers of Wales produce public goods as well as food, and CAP reform must recognise that. In the way they manage their land, the upland farmers of Plynlimon and Porth help with flood alleviation, biodiversity, and carbon abatement, and they protect our landscape and agricultural heritage while putting high-quality, affordable food on our plates. CAP reform must not undermine their ability to steward our countryside for future generations and feed the country. Let me ask the Secretary of State how the farmers of Wales will be protected from the cliff edge of the move from historical payments, as they are at a disadvantage compared to the farmers of England in that respect. What discussions has she had with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the matter, and what assurance has she been given that smaller Welsh family farmers in some of the most precious environments will not lose out in UK Ministers’ negotiations in the EU? I offer her the opportunity to intervene if she wants. How will the existing strong environmental schemes in Wales be protected under the CAP changes? It would be ludicrous if the new greening proposals undermined the work already in place, disadvantaging farmers and the natural environment. We also need to be alive to the challenge of food poverty in Wales. Last year, food prices here rose by 4.9%, which outstrips the food price rises in other OECD countries and far outstrips food price rises in Germany, France and Ireland. An average family of four can expect to spend another £5 a week at the till, or over £250 extra a year. That is on top of the rapid rise in fuel prices over the past couple of years, adding to the pressure on those hard-working families in the squeezed middle, who, including those in Welsh rural communities, are identified by my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition, but ignored by the Prime Minister. The growth in food banks across the whole UK is testament not only to the generosity of others, but to the tragic growth of food poverty, as well as fuel poverty, under this callous Government. I know families in my constituency and across Wales are feeling the pinch in the supermarket every week. What are the Government doing to stop the big increases in food prices? Rural areas are especially reliant on the provision of affordable fuel. They need to warm their homes when off-grid, and to fill their tanks with petrol to get to work and hospital, and to maintain a social life. My hon. Friend the Member for Ynys Môn rightly asked why the Secretary of State did not see fit to trial the rural fuel duty rebate pilot scheme from this March in Wales, rather than in Scotland’s Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, the Isles of Scilly, and the islands in the Clyde only. Did the Secretary of State bother to argue for the schemes to be piloted in rural Wales, or did she miss the opportunity? Was she asleep at the wheel, so to speak? Perhaps she can go on the record and explain what she did. Largely because of this Government’s decisions, life is not easy for rural Wales. Labour is with the Welsh countryside in these tough times. Labour is with farmers and food producers, rural public services and the rural economy, the environment and the landscape we all love, and the people who try, despite the worst efforts of this Government, to maintain a living, thriving countryside and communities in Wales.