Farmers cannot be allowed to “decide what to do” with government funding, Wales’s first minister has said.
Mark Drakeford told a news conference that the Welsh public was “entitled to a return on [its] investment”.
Protests have taken place across Wales in recent weeks over a controversial new funding scheme, which is the subject of an ongoing consultation.
Broadcaster Jeremy Clarkson, who owns a farm in the Cotswolds, waded into the row over the weekend, calling the policy “completely daft”.
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The sustainable farming scheme (SFS) will replace the basic payment scheme and will require farmers to meet certain environmental obligations.
One of those is a requirement for farmers to plant trees on 10% of their land.
While this applies only to land where conditions allow, farming unions are worried about its impact on the industry’s future.
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What will the new scheme mean?
The Welsh government commissioned research into the impact of its proposals.
The impact assessment is based on previous 2022 outline proposals.
That assessment predicted a 10.8% reduction in Welsh livestock numbers and a loss of £199m to farm business income.
Welsh farms could see a cut of 11% in labour, which would equate to a loss of 5,500 jobs based on current employment levels.
Mr Drakeford told journalists it was “inevitable and unavoidable” that a new funding scheme for farmers in Wales would have to be established after the UK voted to leave the European Union.
“The Welsh government wants to go on supporting farmers here in Wales, but the bargain cannot be that the public puts its hand into its pocket to put millions of pounds… on the table, for farmers to just do whatever farmers think they would like to do with it,” he said.
“Some voices in farming want to argue that the public should pay the money and farmers should decide what to do.
“That can’t be the bargain and sensible voices, the vast majority of voices in the farming community, understand that that can’t be the way we face the future together.”
Sky News has contacted the Welsh farming unions for their response.
Ireland is pledging emergency legislation enabling it to send asylum seekers back to the UK.
More than 80% of recent arrivals in the republic came via the land border with Northern Ireland, Irish justice minister Helen McEntee told a parliamentary committee last week.
Ireland’s deputy prime minister has said the threat of deportation to Rwanda is causing migrants to head for Ireland instead of the UK.
Micheal Martin said the policy was already affecting Ireland because people are “fearful” of staying in the UK.
The former taoiseach told The Daily Telegraph: “Maybe that’s the impact it was designed to have.”
Simon Harris, Ireland’s latest leader, has asked Ms McEntee to “bring proposals to cabinet to amend existing law regarding the designation of safe ‘third countries’ and allowing the return of inadmissible international protection applicants to the UK”, a spokesman said.
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Ms McEntee said she will be meeting UK Home Secretary James Cleverly in London on Monday.
“There are many reasons why we have seen an increase in migration towards Ireland,” she told RTE.
“My focus as minister for justice is making sure that we have an effective immigration structure and system.
“That’s why I’m introducing fast processing, that’s why I’ll have emergency legislation at cabinet this week to make sure that we can effectively return people to the UK, and that’s why I’ll be meeting with the home secretary to raise these issues on Monday.”
People are now “worried” about coming to the UK, Rishi Sunak has said.
He told Sky News: “If people come to our country illegally, but know that they won’t be able to stay here, they are much less likely to come, and that’s why the Rwanda scheme is so important.”
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Are migrants fleeing from UK to Ireland?
Mr Sunak said the comments from Irish politicians show that “illegal migration is a global challenge”.
“[That] is why you’re seeing multiple countries talk about doing third country partnerships, looking at novel ways to solve this problem, and I believe [they] will follow where the UK has led,” he said.
Shadow minister Wes Streeting said it was unlikely a Labour government would bring people back from Rwanda if some are sent there.
“Once people are settled in Rwanda, they’re settled in Rwanda,” he told Sky News, adding it was doubtful that Labour would “unpick that situation”.
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Regarding illegal migration in general, he said it required “putting the money that’s gone to Rwanda into the National Crime Agency so we can have proper cross-border policing to tackle the criminal gangs, speeding up the processing of decision-making, making sure we’ve got serious returns agreements with other countries”.
The duke is expected to provide a reading at the event, which marks a decade since the inaugural Invictus Games in London in 2014.
The games were founded as a sporting event for injured and sick military personnel and veterans.
Actor Damian Lewis is set to recite the Invictus poem during the service.
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Representatives from across the Invictus Games participating nations, including members of the wounded, injured and sick service personnel and veteran community, will also be in attendance.
Fire and ambulance services also attended, Durham Constabulary said.
Detective Chief Inspector Mel Sutherland, who is leading the investigation, said: “Officers are keen to speak to anyone who was travelling on the A19 at around 12.20pm to 12.30pm who may have mobile phone or dashcam footage which captures the moments leading up to the incident.
“Our thoughts remain with the man’s family at this time.”