Common Agricultural Policy (Hansard, 30 June 1983)

§ 3. Mr. Campbell-Savours
asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he intends to seek to secure a reduction in community resources devoted to the common agricultural policy.

§ 8. Mr. Ioan Evans
asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what proposals he has for the reform of the European Community common agricultural policy.

§ 9. Sir Kenneth Lewis
asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what progress he envisages in improving the working of the common agricultural policy; and what initiatives he proposes to take.

§ 12. Mr. Teddy Taylor
asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish a White Paper or make a detailed statement outlining the views of Her Majesty's Government on how common agricultural policy expenditure should be curbed and structural surpluses reduced or eliminated.

§ The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Mr. Michael Jopling)
I shall press for effective action to tackle the problems of surplus production and limit the growth of expenditure through restraint on support prices and such other measures as are practicable and negotiable. The European Council recently agreed that concrete steps should be taken to ensure effective control of agricultural expenditure. We shall be pursuing this objective in the forthcoming negotiations, but I doubt whether it would be in the United Kingdom's best interests to publish a White Paper setting out our negotiating stance in advance.

§ Mr. Campbell-Savours
On behalf of our fellow Cumbrian constituents, I welcome the Minister to the Dispatch Box to answer on behalf of the Government for the first time. Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that many of us who have supported the Community over the years now feel that the Community discredits itself by persisting in allocating escalating resources to agriculture? Last year it was 62 per cent. of Community resources, and this year it is 70 per cent. Will the Minister give us an assurance that in the current year the level of resources allocated will not exceed that of last year as a percentage of the total budget or in terms of the cash paid?

§ Mr. Jopling
I thank the hon. Gentleman, who is my constituency neighbour, for his kind words. He spoke about the share of the total Community budget spent on the common agricultural policy and quoted the current figures. I remind him that only back in 1978, under his Government, that share was 80 per cent. The Government have said that they believe that the growth of spending on the CAP should be lower than the growth in own resources.

Several Hon. Members
rose—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. I propose to call first the hon. Members whose questions are down to be answered.

§ Sir Kenneth Lewis
As the first Conservative Member to table a question to my right hon. Friend in his new post, I congratulate him and hope that he will find his new Department less troublesome than his previous office. He is now in charge of a Department that probably has one of the biggest problems in the Common Market—the CAP. There is a danger that people will think that the policy is 687 a disaster, but many of us think that it needs a certain amount of trimming and control around the edges. The policy as a whole has proved to be good for agriculture, both here and in Europe—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. I ask for shorter supplementaries, and ask hon. Members to put them in the form of questions.

§ Sir Kenneth Lewis
Is my right hon. Friend aware that the CAP is not damaging to the consumer and that we hope that the policy will, with certain improvements, continue?

§ Mr. Jopling
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his kind remarks. I agree with him, and it should be repeated often, that the principles of the CAP are excellent and difficult to criticise. However, it is legitimate to criticise the way in which the principles have been put into effect over the years in the Community. One cannot go on and on producing more and more food which it is impossible either to eat within the Community or to sell abroad.

§ Mr. Teddy Taylor
I congratulate my right hon. Friend on his appointment and appeal to him, in reforming the CAP, to use some of the firmness and determination that he used in getting us into the Lobby. At the moment, two thirds of all CAP costs are devoted not to protecting farmers but to dumping surpluses in Russia and elsewhere at knock-down prices, when food mountains are at an all-time high. Do the Government mean business on CAP reform, and is it not about time that they gave us some idea of how they want the job to be done? How can we expect the Common market to take us seriously if we cannot give even the slightest general outline of how we think the CAP should be reformed?

§ Mr. Jopling
I am grateful to my hon. Friend and I hope that over the period ahead he will be as co-operative with me as he has been in the past.

§ Mr. Teddy Taylor
Exactly the same.

§ Mr. Jopling
Between now and 1 August the Commission will be considering a number of aspects of the CAP and examining the need for strict financial guidelines. That examination is intended to result in concrete steps being taken to ensure the effective control of expenditure. As always, the Government remain opposed to subsidised sales of butter to the Soviet Union.

§ Mr. Corbett
May I join in the welcome to the right hon. Gentleman in his new post? [HON. MEMBERS: "No."] We are old friends. Will the right hon. Gentleman say in plain Cumbrian, or plain English, that he will regard it as his duty to seek to reduce wasteful expenditure on the expensive CAP, so that more resources can be put into the social fund and into regional development?

§ Mr. Jopling
I am glad to see the hon. Gentleman back in the House after so many years and no doubt I shall be seeing much more of him. I repeat what I said earlier. It is the Government's intention to assist the Commission in making proposals before 1 August whereby agricultural spending increases at a lower rate than the growth in own resources.

§ Mr. Spence
Does my right hon. Friend agree that there is much in the CAP that has been of considerable benefit to my constituents in Ryedale and in the upland parts of the constituency? When my right hon. Friend carries out the review in conjunction with other Common 688 Market Ministers, will he ensure that many of the typical British aids are preserved? I particularly draw attention to the benefit derived by our dairy farmers from the very good beef premium scheme. I hope that my right hon. Friend will use his best endeavours to ensure that that scheme is preserved.

§ Mr. Jopling
I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I remind him that the price fixing earlier this year benefited farmers and consumers in this country. Producers will receive a further £250 million in a full year and the special subsidies on butter, together with the beef and sheep premiums, will be worth more than £300 million to United Kingdom consumers.

§ Mr. Buchan
In joining the slightly mixed welcome to the new Minister, I remind him, especially in view of his interest in livestock, that of all the endangered species under this Government, ex-Chief Whips are most at risk.
The right hon. Gentleman gives promises of change, but has he read the record of promises of change? Has he read the mandate of June 1980 and its firm commitment to changes? Have they happened? Is not the cost of the EC increasing, will it not increase further and ought it not to be diminished? Is it not the case that the cutback on our proper rebate from Stuttgart last week was made precisely because the CAP budget has increased by another 4 billion ecu—more than £2 billion—and the reduced rebate is part payment by us towards that? What steps does the right hon. Gentleman intend to take to cut the growth of surpluses and the destruction of food?

§ Mr. Jopling
We shall be negotiating on those matters and it would not be wise for us to expose our negotiating hand. I know that the hon. Gentleman would not do that. He talks about the record, but I remind him that under the previous Conservative Government the United Kingdom's share of receipts from Community agricultural expenditure more than doubled — from 5.1 per cent. under the Labour Government in 1978 to 10.4 per cent. in 1982. The hon. Gentleman is looking for promises that have been fulfilled and I believe that our record in making sure that this country gets a better deal out of the CAP is very clear.

§ Mr. Buchan
rose—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. I think that we should move on.