Hill farmers post-Brexit’

not unreasonably withhold consent where agreement has been reached. And the undertaking from the UK government is that we would only take the action you’ve described as an absolutely last resort.

“There is a strong presumption and a strong requirement on both the devolveds and on the UK government to work through their differences in a grown-up way and that is what we do regularly at Defra already. And it’s quite possible in my view to work through these and achieve a compromise and a consensus across the UK.”

He looked forward to escaping the “insane complexity and bureaucracy” of EU schemes, suggesting there were “lots of things that we could do to just take some of the tension and madness out”.

Afterwards, Ceredigion Plaid Cymru MP Ben Lake voiced concerns about the future of funding for farming support, saying: “If the new farm funding arrangements are left to Westminster’s Comprehensive Spending Review, there is [the] risk that funding will be determined every three years rather than every seven, and that agriculture will be pitted against every other sector in the UK, including the financial services sector in London, to compete.

“This is not how Brexit was sold to Welsh farmers. Each country in the UK should have an equal say on the total amount of money allocated to farming post-CAP.”