Labour MS apologises for Tory farmer heckle

Emily Price

A Labour backbencher has apologised for telling a Tory MS to "go back to the young farmers" during a heated heckling exchange in the Senedd.

FMQs descended into a bout of jeering on Tuesday afternoon (February 18) as the leader of the opposition Darren Millar quizzed the First Minister on the treatment of Welsh pensioners.

During the exchange, former deputy minister Lee Waters could be heard calling out from the Labour side of the Chamber telling the Tory leader to "go back to Washington".

Mr Millar recently returned from a visit to the US capital where he took part in a prayer breakfast attended by President Donald Trump.

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Farmers

Hitting back at Mr Waters, Tory backbencher Tom Giffard was caught on Senedd TV cameras laughing along with his colleague Sam Kurtz after telling the Labour MS to "go back to Sustrans" - a cycling charity he used to work for.

Although the Tory taunt about Mr Waters' CV came from Mr Giffard - the Labour MS for Llanelli retaliated by telling Mr Kurtz to "go back to the young farmers".

The Young Farmers is a program for young people to learn about farming, the natural world, and animal care.

It also helps young people build confidence and make friends. 

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Apology

Mr Kurtz was born and raised on a family beef farm in Pembrokeshire.

The shadow economy minister took to social media following the Senedd heckling match.

In a post to X, Mr Kurtz said: "I just got told to ‘go back to the young farmers’ by a Labour backbencher in the Chamber.

"I actually have no words to describe their contempt for challenge."

He later updated the tweet to say that Mr Waters' had emailed him to apologise.

Mr Kurtz told Nation.Cymru he had "accepted the apology" and that the matter was now closed.

We invited Mr Waters and Mr Giffard to comment but they both declined.