HC Deb 05 May 1948 vol 450 cc1266-7
56. Mr. Thornton-Kemsley

asked the Minister of Food if he will increase the allocation of manufacturing meat to Scottish pork butchers and manufacturers so as to ensure that the amount of manufacturing meat per head of the population allocated to Scotland is not less than the amount allocated to England and Wales.

Dr. Summerskill

If we were to apply the principle suggested by the hon. Member to all unrationed foods made from rationed ingredients, I can assure him that Scotland would gain no advantage.

Mr. Thornton-Kemsley

That is not the point of the Question. The Question deals with processed meat. Will the Parliamentary Secretary apply herself to that particular question?

Dr. Summerskill

Yes, Sir, but the hon. Member probably does not know that most processed meat is used for sausages, and that in Scotland it is customary for the retail butcher to manufacture his own sausages, whereas in England there are specialist butchers who do this job. That is why there is this differentiation.

Mr. J. S. C. Reid

Is it not a fact that the Department have cut off all supplies of this meat in cases where the prewar use was less than one ton a week? In view of the fact that more small men were engaged in this trade in Scotland than in England, has that not had a most unfortunate effect on the Scottish trade?

Dr. Summerskill

All manufacturers of sausages get 40 per cent. of their prewar datum amount.

Mr. Scollan

Does the Parliamentary Secretary realise that the large number of people in Scotland making sausages have now been cut off? [Laughter.] As hon. Members have seen fit to interrupt me with laughter, may I point out that these sausages made a better meal than the "tripe" we sometimes get here? The Parliamentary Secretary has recognised the fact that local butchers in Scotland make their own sausages, but now that their supplies have been cut off, it means that seven-eighths of the people in large towns in Scotland are not getting the supplies they ought to get.

Major Guy Lloyd

Is the hon. Lady aware that because of the method of calculation more than 4,000 small butchers in Scotland get nothing whatever?

Dr. Summerskill

The small butchers in Scotland who manufacture sausages are getting an allocation as hitherto.

Mr. Hector Hughes

Can my hon. Friend say what is the amount of the allocation to Scottish butchers and manufacturers and the amount of the allocation to English and Welsh manufacturers?

Dr. Summerskill

I have already said that the allocation is 40 per cent. of the datum period both in England and in Scotland.