Meat Ration (Hansard, 4 February 1952)

§ 37. Sir I. Fraser
asked the Minister of Food the level at which it will be possible to maintain the meat ration for the remainder of the winter.

§ Major Lloyd George
No, Sir. Whether we can maintain the ration at 1s. 2d. depends on a number of variable factors, such as shipments from Argentina.

§ Sir I. Fraser
It was hard to hear the Minister's answer. Did my right hon. and gallant Friend say he did not know, because there are only a few weeks left in the winter and it would be a help to housewives to know how they are getting on?

§ Major Lloyd George
The supplies of meat at the end of April have already been programmed for by my predecessor, but it is not possible to say what it will be at the end of that period because it depends on the rate of shipment of meat, particularly from Argentina, which has a lot of leeway to make up.

§ Sir I. Fraser
Will the housewives at least get their ration until the end of April?

§ Major Lloyd George
It is not possible to state in advance, because, as I must repeat, it is on shipments between now and the end of April that the ration must depend.

§ Mr. Shinwell
Does not the uncertainty about the meat ration indicated in the right hon. and gallant Gentleman's answer compare unfavourably with the quite definite and emphatic statements made by himself and other members of the Government during and immediately after the Election concerning the provision of food supplies?

§ Major Lloyd George
The right hon. Gentleman has specifically mentioned myself, and I challenge him to find a single statement of mine made during the Election which bears out what he says.

§ Mr. Shinwell
In view of the right hon. and gallant Gentleman's assurance that he made no such statement during the Election, I unreservedly withdraw, but does not that mean that during the Election he was quite incapable of offering any considered opinion on the subject?

§ Air Commodore A. V. Harvey
Is not my right hon. and gallant Friend aware that the real trouble is due to the fact that the rations were increased to such an extent last August by the Labour Government?

§ Mr. Julian Snow
Can the right hon. and gallant Gentleman say whether there is any truth in the statement published in a London newspaper that on or about 20th February a team of Government meat buyers will leave for the Argentine?

§ Major Lloyd George
I did not see that statement. All I know is that when the year comes to an end at the end of April the whole of the trading negotiations will take place with regard to more commodities than meat.

§ Mr. Snow
So that means that no Government team is leaving on or before 20th February?

§ Mr. Archer Baldwin
Is my right hon. and gallant Friend aware that the production of beef is not a matter of three months, but of three years? Would he convey that fact to those hon. Members opposite who think it is a matter of turning a handle and producing the meat?

§ Mr. George Wigg
Owing to the unsatisfactory nature of the reply, I beg to give notice that I propose to raise this matter on the Adjournment.

§ Sir I. Fraser
On a point of order. Seeing that that was my Question, Mr. Speaker, has the hon. Gentleman opposite the right to pre-empt my desire to raise this matter at another time?

§ Mr. Speaker
Yes, he has.