Commenting on the Welsh Government’s decision to vote against motion to annul the NVZ Regulations, Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire Senedd candidate Samuel Kurtz said:
"This is hugely disappointing, and farmers locally are right to feel betrayed by the Welsh Government.
“Despite farming unions and large rural businesses stressing the negative impact these regulations will have on farms and farmers, and the evidence to suggest that these measures will not bring about the positive environmental changes that are claimed, the Welsh Government have ploughed and forced this decision through.
“There needs to be a collaborative approach that brings about the necessary improvements, not this blanket ‘one size fits all’ approach that will cause more harm than good.”
Welsh Conservative Shadow Rural Affairs minister, Janet Finch-Saunders added:
“Labour’s proposals do not follow the science and their own regulator – Natural Resources Wales – has warned that the proposed new rules will have the perverse outcome of making water quality worse, which is an unacceptable situation in the fight against pollution.
“On numerous occasions during the crisis, Labour promised Welsh farmers that the much-discredited EU regulations would not be introduced during the pandemic and I’m appalled that they have not stuck to their word.
“For the Liberal Democrat member of the Welsh Government to sit on her hands and not even bother to vote tells you all you need to know about what they think of the agricultural community in Wales.
“This is a betrayal of Welsh farming and the environment by Labour and the Lib Dems and a dark day for our rural communities.”
