UK Government ministers back first virtual Royal Welsh Show

• Four-day programme of online events replaces annual event in Builth Wells
• It comes as the UK Government protects the incomes of nearly 10,000 people employed in the rural economy in Wales

UK Government ministers will underline the importance of supporting Wales’ rural economy through the coronavirus pandemic by taking part in the first ever virtual Royal Welsh Show this week (20-24 July).

Secretary of State for Wales Simon Hart and UK Government Minister in Wales David TC Davies will take part in a series of online engagements and visits with key figures to support the agricultural sector in Wales.

The show comes as the latest figures demonstrate the UK Government is protecting nearly 10,000 incomes of people working in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector in Wales – 8,400 via the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme and 1,400 through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

The UK Government’s ‘Enjoy Summer Safely’ campaign also aims to boost the UK domestic tourism industry and inspire the public to get back to normal spending habits while adhering to COVID-19 health and safety guidelines.

Last week the UK Government set out its plans to ensure businesses, including Welsh food and drink production companies, can continue to enjoy seamless internal trade with the whole of the United Kingdom when we leave the transition period at the end of this year.

Secretary of State for Wales Simon Hart said:

This year’s Royal Welsh Show comes at a crucial moment where we must balance the need to save lives and contain the coronavirus with our objective to protect our economy and ensure sectors like agriculture are able to bounce back strongly.

Across Wales, the UK Government is protecting the incomes of over 480,000 people through the coronavirus job retention and self-employment income support schemes. Thousands of these are in the rural economy and we are doing everything we can to ensure those jobs and communities are supported through the pandemic.

While the staging of the Royal Welsh Show is impossible this year, I fully support its move to an online platform and hope it will enable the show to grow its reach and come back even stronger next year. I look forward to lending my support to the agricultural sector this week and hearing the views of those employed in it about how we can best navigate our way through the months ahead.

This year’s virtual Royal Welsh Show starts on Monday 20th July and features an opening address by the Prince of Wales as well as a packed programme of seminars, live question and answer sessions and other events designed to educate the public about agriculture, Welsh produce and the environment.

ENDS