Arguments over EID have been well-rehearsed in this chamber on several occasions.

I would like to say from the outset that Welsh Conservatives will be supporting the amendment laid by the Liberal Democrats.  But, as I stressed in the Rural Development sub-Committee’s report into EID, I still object in the strongest terms to these regulations.

The technology has been proved to be well short of 100% accurate, and it will serve no purpose for disease control.  And given this evidence, the Welsh Conservatives cannot support the Assembly Government’s motion.

I do appreciate that the concessions will limit the damage the regulations will do to the industry.  But it’s inevitable that the extra costs of compliance will get passed back to the producer. This is a point that has bee made to me repeatedly by livestock auctioneers. And for what reason? There is full and robust traceability in the current system. It’s working well, and it’s working efficiently.

Compare this with Electronic ID, which, as the Minister knows from her Interim Report, fails to read one in five sheep. These Regulations are designed to address a problem that no longer exists – using technology that is years from being reliably accurate.

I appreciate the Minister’s work for Welsh sheep producers, but clearly her own efforts have not been matched by her Labour colleagues in London, who have failed to fight Wales’ corner vigorously enough in Brussels. As a result, Welsh flocks will now be put at a competitive disadvantage to the smaller European states.

However, given the uncertainty in the industry over how EID will work in practice, can the Minister outline how the slaughter derogation will operate, and whether or not there will be segregation of animals with, and without, tags at the same market?  What arrangements will operate for missing tags, which will be inevitable given the numbers involved? And will the Minister give a commitment that she is making every effort to ensure that farmers will not face financial penalties because of the deficiencies of this technology?