FARMING in Mid Wales would be badly damaged by a ‘no deal’ Brexit warns Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Speaking to the County Times at the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) in Machynlleth, the leader of the opposition Mr Corbyn, said leaving the European Union without a deal would be harmful to agriculture in the Powys area.

Mr Corbyn was visiting the area after showing support for a tidal lagoon in Swansea, as part of a “green revolution”.

“I bumped into the president of the Welsh Farming Association yesterday and clearly a ‘no deal’ Brexit would be incredibly damaging to Welsh agriculture,” he said.

“The whole process of agriculture support would dramatically change and we will do everything we can to prevent a ‘no deal’ Brexit that would be damaging to the agricultural community and farming in Wales, and would also do a lot of damage to industries in Mid Wales.

“I’m also thinking of Ford in Bridgend and Airbus in the north – all of them would be badly affected by a ‘no deal’ Brexit.”

He added: “I think the support the Welsh Government has given to agriculture and tourism has been very important.

“I think the wages system in Wales, the use of the agricultural wages board is a good thing as it helps to improve the wages.

“The principle is of supporting the agricultural community and improving transport in rural Wales so you can get either agricultural development businesses or farms, where farm products are being processed so you get a higher value at the end of it.

“Improvements to bus services are very important.”

Mr Corbyn added that improving transport links is also crucial to the development of agricultural businesses, and that he understands tourism is key to the Welsh economy too.

“Tourism is clearly crucial to the Welsh economy. It’s an incredibly beautiful country to visit and that means having good transport links but it also means attracting visitors to Wales and visitors from all over the UK.

“But they also come from all over Europe and across the world. If there are difficulties over travel and entry to the UK then they simply won’t come so we have to make sure there is ease of entry into Britain for visitors.

“Visitors, after all, are coming to enjoy Wales, are coming to learn about Wales and Wales benefits – obviously from the money they spend but I also think the interaction of people from all over the world is a good thing.

“I love visiting Wales myself. I grew up in Shropshire and remember wonderful holidays here as a child.”

In a bid to prevent a ‘no deal’ Brexit at the end of October, Mr Corbyn repeated his call to opposition parties to back a ‘no confidence’ motion in the current Government next month.

He added that he felt it was “unlikely” that the union of Great Britain would break up leading to Wales becoming independent, saying that it was important for everyone to unite together and avoid a ‘no deal’ exit from the EU.

Mr Corbyn said: “The key thing is to be united together to oppose a ‘no deal’ Brexit and therefore I will be proposing a motion of ‘no confidence’ in this Government and invite all opposition parties to support that motion of ‘no confidence’ to prevent a ‘no deal’ Brexit from the European Union on October 21.”