Prices (Hansard, 8 March 1945)

52. Mr. De la Bère
asked the Minister of Agriculture whether he can now make some statement regarding farm produce prices and any proposed increases or cuts in prices for the next 12 months.

Mr. Hudson
I would refer my hon. Friend to the statement on this subject which appeared in the Press this morning.

Mr. De la Bère
Are we to be guided entirely by statements in the Press? Is it not better to have these matters raised in the House?

§ Mr. Shinwell
Is it not essential that an important statement, affecting agriculture and the country, should be made to the House, and that we should not be advised through the Press?

Mr. Hudson
It is a very long statement indeed, going into very great detail. I considered whether I should make it to-day, but, in view of its extreme length and detail, I felt that hon. Members would not like to hear it read out.

§ Mr. Shinwell
But a statement contributed by the Minister to the Press is not debatable in this House. We can debate statements by Ministers only if they are made here. Can provision be made for Members to hear the statement, and discuss it?

§ Mr. Edgar Granville
In view of the fact that Members on all sides of the House have been asking questions about this matter for a number of weeks, and that there has been no answer, will my right hon. Friend use his influence with the Leader of the House to see that we are given an early opportunity of debating the statement which appears in the Press to-day?

Mr. Hudson
It is not a matter for me, but if my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House could find the time, I should be very glad to have a Debate.

Mr. De la Bère
This Question has been on the Order Paper for some days. Would it not have been better for my right hon. Friend to have answered it here, instead of doing so through the Press? It is a little hard on the hon. Member for Evesham.

Mr. Hudson
It may possibly be hard on my hon. Friend the Member for Evesham (Mr. De la Bère), but I must have regard to some 300,000 farmers, who want to know at the earliest possible moment what prices they are going to get for the crops they have been ordered to plant.