Oral Answers to Questions

Anna McMorrin Excerpts

Wednesday 4th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Dr Ben Spencer (Runnymede and Weybridge) (Con)]

4. What discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on supporting family farms in Wales.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales (Anna McMorrin)]

Family farms play a crucial role in our economy, our landscape, and our language of Wales, and I have regular discussions with Ministers in Westminster and in the Welsh Government about how we can ensure ongoing support. I also regularly speak to farmers and farming unions, continuing to build a true partnership, and listen and respond to their needs.

[Dr Spencer]

International conflict and instability risk putting up food and fuel prices, and threaten our domestic food resilience. Instead of reviews and platitudes, we need action to protect our farmers and our UK food resilience. Will the Minister take action and scrap the damaging family farm tax?

[Anna McMorrin]

This Labour Government are committed to supporting farms right across the country. I was with the new president of NFU Cymru, Abi Reader, just a few weeks ago in Wenvoe, hearing how family farms, including hers, will be protected. We will not apologise for being a listening Government, or for striking a fair balance between supporting farms and businesses, and fixing the public finances, which the Conservative party wrecked when it was in government.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Chair of the Welsh Affairs Committee.

[Ruth Jones (Newport West and Islwyn) (Lab)]

As you will be aware, Mr Speaker, the Welsh Affairs Committee recently published its report on farming in Wales. We welcome the Government’s reforms to inheritance tax, but call for further work on the impacts of the change on Welsh family farms to protect our culture, language and amazing farm produce. Does the Minister agree that the Chancellor’s changes to the threshold for agricultural property relief and business property relief show that this Labour Government are listening to Welsh farmers and our rural communities?

[Anna McMorrin]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right: we are a listening Government, and we have listened to farmers right across the country and made the necessary changes to protect them and fix our public finances, which were completely damaged and wrecked by the Conservative party. I commend her for her dedication and commitment to Wales as Chair of the Welsh Affairs Committee, and I look forward to continuing our work together.

[Simon Hoare (North Dorset) (Con)]

Will the Minister, in listening mode, listen to Welsh sheep farmers who are desperately concerned about being able to access Australian and New Zealand sheep shearers this year, as this is now an animal welfare issue? What conversations has she had with her right hon. Friend the Home Secretary to ensure that those Commonwealth citizens can come in—they never overstay, and are here only for the shearing season—and ensure that sheep farming in Wales, and across the United Kingdom, can be supported and continue to flourish?

[Anna McMorrin]

The hon. Gentleman is making an important point. I am regularly out listening to farmers and speaking to farming unions, and I am proud that this Government are making the important trade deals that will make a big difference to farmers and businesses across our rural communities. That is possible only because this Labour Government have achieved economic stability, and have repaired our reputation on the world stage after, I am afraid, the Conservative party made a mess of it. I will continue to take his points back to colleagues across Government, and to have those negotiations and discussions with them.

[Henry Tufnell (Mid and South Pembrokeshire) (Lab)]

How is the Minister working with the Welsh Labour Government in Cardiff on the upcoming sanitary and phytosanitary negotiations, to ensure that Pembrokeshire farmers in my constituency gain maximum benefit from our realignment with the European Union?

[Anna McMorrin]

My hon. Friend is a great advocate for farms in his constituency, and growing up in Pembrokeshire, I know that family farms are the backbone of our local community, as they are across Wales. That is why we are negotiating an agreement with the EU, our closest partner and biggest market. Working with the Welsh Government, we are ensuring that we are slashing red tape and cutting costs for businesses, and that remains a priority and central to this agreement.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Harriet Cross (Gordon and Buchan) (Con)]

More than 38,000 people are employed on Welsh farms, the food and farming sector is worth £9 billion to the Welsh economy, and 90% of land is given over to farming, yet in 2025 alone, more than 400 farming businesses closed in Wales. Given the importance of farming to Wales, when did the Wales Office last make representations to the Cabinet about Welsh farmers, and what actions, not meetings, has the Minister personally taken to support farming in Wales?

[Anna McMorrin]

This Labour Government have presided over the largest devolution settlement since records began—a settlement that has been used to provide £337 million of support to farmers right across Wales. I wonder whether the hon. Lady remembers that not only did the Welsh Conservatives votes against that support, but they introduced a motion to scrap the Welsh Government’s sustainable farming scheme. I thought that the Welsh Conservative slogan was “farming needs a friend”, but that does not sound very friendly to me.

[Lorraine Beavers (Blackpool North and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

5. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle child poverty in Wales.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales (Anna McMorrin)]

Too many children are held back by the scourge of poverty, wilfully created by the Conservative party. Our new child poverty strategy will lift more than half a million children out of poverty by 2030 across the UK, delivering the largest expected reduction since records began. Removing the two-child limit will benefit thousands of children in Wales.

[Lorraine Beavers]

Our UK Labour Government’s decision to scrap the wicked Conservative two-child cap will benefit 1,700 children in my constituency, and 69,000 children in Wales. Does the Secretary of State agree with me that the Conservative and Reform desire to reintroduce the cap is unjustifiably cruel and will drag children back into poverty?

[Anna McMorrin]

I completely agree with my hon. Friend. It has and always will be children who pay the price for cruel policies, like those introduced under the Tories. I am proud that, as a Labour Government rooted in the values of fairness, we have scrapped the two-child limit, benefiting 69,000 children in Wales, and giving children their future back and hope for a better life. It is a surprise to no one that the Conservatives and Reform would reintroduce the cap and yet again plunge more children into poverty at a single stroke. Remember, their decision was never about work or saving money—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I call Alex Easton.

[Alex Easton (North Down) (Ind)]

Does the Minister accept that if the Government were serious about reducing child poverty in Wales, and across the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland, they would prioritise public spending on measures that directly reduce child poverty, in particular investment in social housing and childcare?

[Anna McMorrin]

This Government are completely serious about reducing child poverty. I am proud that we are a Government who are putting children first. Remember, the decision the Tories took was not about the policy; it was simply about politics. We are putting children first.

[Jen Craft (Thurrock) (Lab)]

6. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help reduce the cost of living in Wales.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales (Anna McMorrin)]

We know that the cost of living is the No. 1 issue for people across the country and that is why we remain wholly committed to tackling it. As a result of our actions, interest rates have already been cut six times since the election, energy bills will be cheaper this spring and families getting a new mortgage are almost £1,400 a year better off than they were under the Tories.

[Jen Craft]

Wages and inward investment are up, economic inactivity is down and interest rates have been cut six times. Labour’s plan to lower the cost of living is clearly working, but we know that more must be done to put more money in people’s pockets. Will the Secretary of State outline what steps she is taking to lower the cost of living?

[Anna McMorrin]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. One of the most important things to this Labour Government is putting more money in the pockets of people across Wales and England. So far, we have increased the national minimum and living wages, giving a pay rise to 160,000 Welsh workers; we have announced the first ever permanent real-terms increase to universal credit, benefiting 320 households in Wales; and we have increased the state pension. A lot has been done and there is still a lot more to do—that is Labour delivering in government.

[Carla Lockhart (Upper Bann) (DUP)]

Families and businesses are feeling hard-pressed more than ever, and events around the world are making food security more important than ever. Does the Minister recognise the seriousness of the Government’s anti-farming agenda, particularly the family farm tax?

[Anna McMorrin]

I listened to what the hon. Member said, but I do not recognise what she says. This Government are listening to farmers and acting to ensure that they feel better off, which includes streamlining and reducing the burden on businesses and cutting costs.

[Ben Lake (Ceredigion Preseli) (PC)]

7. What discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential impact of a UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement on Welsh farmers.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales (Anna McMorrin)]

The Secretary of State and I are working closely with Cabinet Office colleagues to ensure that Welsh farmers benefit from reduced costs and bureaucracy when exporting their produce to the EU.

[Ben Lake]

Dr Amanda Gibson and her team of scientists at Aberystwyth University are leading research into how the BCG vaccine might be used to help control tuberculosis in cattle. I know the Minister will agree that this is essential work, but can she help ensure that their research is also considered as part of the UK’s negotiations with the EU, so that we do not have to make a choice between animal health and exports?

[Anna McMorrin]

I was at Aberystwyth University just a few weeks ago. Scientists there are doing some excellent work, and it is fantastic that they are leading the way on a vaccine for TB in cattle. I know how devastating the impact of TB can be on farms and cattle. We have begun negotiations with the EU on an SPS agreement. The hon. Gentleman would not expect me to comment on those negotiations, but I will raise his question and these issues with the relevant colleagues.

[Mr Alex Barros-Curtis (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

Our recent trade deals with the EU, UK, India and South Korea will reduce bureaucracy while giving significant benefits to our constituents in accessing these markets. Can the Minister outline what other agreements we will benefit from in the near future?

[Anna McMorrin]

Our trade strategy is prioritising deals that deliver real impact for businesses right across Wales and the rest of the country. That is possible only because this Labour Government have achieved economic stability and repaired our reputation on the world stage after the Tories made a complete mockery of it.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Before I come to Prime Minister’s questions, and in the light of recent exchanges in the Chamber, I remind Members of the need for good temper and moderation in the language they use. As the Speaker, I am not responsible for the specific questions asked by individual Members or the answers given by Ministers. I encourage all Members to engage in respectful debate, as our constituents would expect.