A Labour politician slammed for “deplorable” and “insensitive” comments about Welsh dairy farmers has said she recognises the “stress and anguish” they operate under. But Mid and West Wales Senedd member Joyce Watson stopped short of apologising for her remarks despite industry-wide condemnation.
Farmers and others were left stunned when she told struggling milk producers impacted by Bovine TB to “find another business”. In the year to June, 9,529 TB-affected cattle were slaughtered in Wales and TB breakdowns can cost farmers tens of thousands of pounds. There’s also concern over the mental anguish farming families endure when losing in-calf cows and heifers.
Farming union NFU Cymru called Ms Watson’s comment “shocking”. The Welsh Conservatives said the MS had shown a “complete lack of empathy”, while Countryside Alliance Wales demanded an "immediate public apology”.
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Ms Watson told the BBC that, had she had longer to speak, she would have explained she was “talking about several farms which have been continuously impacted by TB, and the ongoing pressures of the current systems”.
She made her comments at the Senedd as rural affairs minister Lesley Griffiths issued an update on Wales’ bovine bTB eradication programme. A new five-year strategy was unveiled in March which aims to make Wales free of the disease by 2041.
Ms Watson asked the minister: “Have you looked at any farms that have perpetual TB status, and have you considered the question of whether those particular farms should be dairy farms at all? Because if it is the case that they are in perpetual TB infection status, surely they need to find another business?”
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Countryside Alliance Wales said the remarks were “insulting”, especially given Ms Watson represents a large number of dairy farmers. In her constituency, 789,387 cattle were tested for bovine TB in the year to June and, as a result, 5,103 cattle were culled.
Its director Rachel Evans accused Ms Watson of “lacking in compassion”. “The appalling comments made me sick to my stomach,” she said.
“Despite representing a significant dairy farming community, she offers no compassion for those struggling families who suffer daily from anxiety and distress because of TB. Rather than act as their voice in the Senedd, Ms Watson has opted to throw them under the bus and seems content with seeing this significant industry collapsing”.
NFU Cymru has written to the MS to underline the hurt caused by her comments. She has been invited to spend a day meeting TB-affected farming families who are working to rid the countryside of bTB.
On his social media platforms, Conwy hill farmer Gareth Wyn Jones said: "I’m not usually lost for words. But this is beyond belief. Farmers in Wales have no hope with dinosaurs like this representing us."
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In this week’s TB update in the Senedd, farmers were left disappointed by the announcement of extra testing requirements for the Low and Intermediate risk areas of Wales. The Welsh Government has said new TB “incidents” fell 18.4% in the year to June, and a decrease of 5% in the number of cattle slaughtered.
But the industry claimed Wales is lagging behind England and farmers have reiterated the need for badger culling to tackle the disease. At the Senedd, Ms Watson labelled this a “barbaric practice”.
She said: “In England, they’ve killed 210,000 badgers in their bovine TB eradication policy, and yet there’s no proof at all that that has contributed in any way whatsoever to the decline in TB in cattle. It is a barbaric practice and in some cases there has been local extinction of badger populations.”
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