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Agricultural Policy

My hon. Friend is entirely right. The Agricultural Wages Board may be seen to be a relic of a much earlier age. Things have moved on. The Government are in discussion with colleagues in the Welsh Assembly Government on the consultation process, and we hope to be in a position to announce details shortly. To repeat the point made by the Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for South East Cambridgeshire in response to the question of the hon. Member for Newport East, who is not here now, an impact assessment will be published as part of the consultation process. It is fair to say that the vast majority of farmers are willing to pay, and do pay, a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. To suggest that there will be some sort of exploitation of workers if the AWB is abolished is an unwarranted slur upon the farming community. The right hon. Member for Neath also raised an important point about the movement from historically based decoupled annual payments to area-based payments, which the hon. Member for Ogmore also touched on. The right hon. Gentleman was right to express concern, as was the hon. Member for Arfon, that this could result in a cliff edge for Welsh farmers during the transitional period with a 40% drop in one year. The Government recognise that 40% is far too high, and the Commission is proposing a five-year transition period, which the Government feel is reasonable, but, as the Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for South East Cambridgeshire pointed out, if there is to be a five-year period, why should there not be a reduction of 20% in the first year, rather than, as he put it, a big hit of 40%? That is the Government’s position on the transition, which needs to be taken far more slowly than the Commission apparently now proposes. Several hon. Members specifically mentioned rural fuel prices, which are of considerable concern in rural Wales and were identified in the taskforce report. The hon. Member for Ynys Môn asked why the rebate scheme was not extended to Wales, so I will reiterate our position. The Wales Office did indeed write to the Treasury urging that parts of Wales be considered for the pilot project, but the Treasury decided not to do so. It decided to apply the project to Scottish islands and the Scillies, where prices can be as much as 20p a litre higher than elsewhere in the country. I know that petrol is more expensive in areas such as the hon. Gentleman’s constituency, but I doubt that it is 20p a litre higher. Nevertheless, the Wales Office is concerned about the position—I stress that this is a pilot—and will continue to stand up for Wales. On this occasion, however, we did not get the result that we wanted. Win a few, lose a few—unfortunately we lost this one.