Debate as rural scheme 'would put farms and jobs at risk'

A FIERY debate has erupted over claims a financial support scheme for farmers will lead to the loss of an estimated 1,100 jobs, 56,000 livestock and £76m.

- CHRIS HAINES

Samuel Kurtz, the Tory shadow rural affairs secretary, urged the Welsh Government to scrap the stuttering sustainable farming scheme (SFS) which has been plagued by protests.

He said: “Their own economic impact assessment tells a stark story: job losses, livestock reductions and millions wiped from farm business incomes.”

But Welsh ministers accused the opposition of misleading farmers, arguing the figures were incomplete “scenarios, not predictions” that failed to account for the scheme’s full benefits.

Mr Kurtz told the Senedd the farming sector employs about 50,000 people directly and a further 250,000 in the wider food and drink supply chain - a sector worth £9.3bn a year

“Behind every one of those numbers lies a family, a community, a business, people who have served Wales for generations’” he said.

“Farming is not simply an occupation: it's a way of life, the beating heart of our rural economy and a cornerstone of Wales’ national identity.”