The Welsh Liberal Democrats have
criticised the UK Conservative Government following its announcement showing
Welsh farmers will receive less financial support than they currently get from
the EU.
At present farming subsidies from
the EU, mostly distributed under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), amount
to around £350million a year for Welsh farmers. This represents more than 80%
of average farm incomes in Wales.
The Government's new announcement
outlined a £2.85billion funding package to replace EU funding, in which
£231million is allocated to Wales.
This represents a drop of up to
£120million, roughly one-third of the money currently received from the EU, and
only covers the next years funding.
During the election, the
Conservatives made numerous pledges to support Welsh Farmers and guarantee
existing funding would be matched.
Jane Dodds, Leader of the Welsh
Liberal Democrats said:
"Brexit is already
threatening the livelihoods of our farmers, especially given the threat of no
deal at the end of 2020. They need certainty and security, not less support and
additional barriers to trade.
"It is therefore incredibly
concerning that the Conservatives are exacerbating this by planning to
shortchange Welsh farmers to the tune of £120million.
"This is a far cry from the
grand promises that were made to Welsh farmers and is just another case of
Conservatives saying one thing at an election and then doing another
afterwards.
"The Welsh Liberal Democrats
demand better for our farmers. The Conservatives must honour their commitment
to guarantee existing funding in full and stop playing political games with our
farmers' futures."