Last week, I had the opportunity to speak on Senedd’s debate on the Welsh Governments’ Draft Budget.

This debate is the first opportunity to debate the Welsh Government’s spending commitments for the upcoming financial year and assess what the Government’s real priorities are.

Sadly, I was incredibly disappointed by the Welsh Government’s lack of commitment to standing up for businesses and farmers across Wales.

While I welcome the fact that the increase in funding for the Basic Payment Scheme, a support scheme for farmers, this increase does not make up for the £63 million in cuts that rural affairs saw over the last few years.

The Welsh Government must never forget how valuable the farming community is to both the Welsh economy and Welsh culture, and sadly many farmers I speak to don’t feel that the Labour Governments on either end of the M4 have a proper understanding of rural life and the challenges that farmers face.

This Government has proposed some radical changes to the farming community in the way of the Sustainable Farming Scheme, a controversial scheme which saw the rural community come out and protest in the Senedd’s largest protest in history.

If this scheme is to go ahead in its revised edition, Welsh Ministers need to ensure that they tell farmers how the planned payments will be scheduled so rural communities can plan ahead.

Unfortunately, the Chancellor’s own inheritance tax raid on farmers flies in the face of the work that the Welsh Government is trying to do when it comes to farmers. Why would farmers invest in their farms to comply with a scheme only to increase the amount of tax they will pay?

Sadly, the Labour Ministers in the Senedd have failed to stand up to the chancellor’s tax raises and have defended the measure.

I also spoke on the concerns that many communities have surrounding Labour’s transport strategy.

Policies such as the road building freeze and default 20mph speed limits have taken their toll, as has the inadequate and poor transport infrastructure that blights many areas of Wales.

If we want to boost the economy, we need to ensure that we have an infrastructure system fit for the 21st century.

I hope that the Welsh Government’s final budget will better reflect on these issues and address the real concerns that many across Wales have.