HC Deb 11 February 1954 vol 523 cc1347-8
25. Lieut.-Colonel Lipton

asked the President of the Board of Trade how much Canadian barley was imported in 1952 and 1953, respectively; and its cost.

Mr. P. Thorneycroft

Forty-six thousand tons of barley were imported from Canada in 1952, and 560,000 tons in 1953. The c.i.f. value was £1.4 million in 1952 and £14.3 million in 1953.

Lieut.-Colonel Lipton

Is the Minister aware that this unnecessary increase of more than ten times the 1952 figures exceeds the total value of motor car exports to Canada, and is making it impossible for the Minister of Food to get rid of 1 million tons of this year's British barley harvest, except at a heavy loss? What is the good of asking the British motor trade to go all out for dollars and the farmers to grow more barley when we have this unco-ordinated insanity in Whitehall?

Mr. Stokes

How much of the 1953 imports went for the distillation of whisky?

Mr. Thorneycroft

I could not give an accurate answer without notice.

Mr. Stokes

If I put down a Question, could the Minister give me an accurate answer?

Mr. Thorneycroft

I wonder what the right hon. Gentleman means by "accurate." I can say that a great deal of whisky was made from home-grown barley.

Mr. Deedes

Can my right hon. Friend tell the House what proportion of the total figures for 1953 he was advised, from all quarters, to import prior to decontrol in order to avoid rising prices?

Mr. Thorneycroft

I cannot give the figure, but the position is that purchasers in this country are free to buy the barley where they wish. On this occasion more barley was bought from Canada and rather less from the Soviet Union. That was the choice of the purchasers themselves. It depends on what barley is offered and at what price.

Mr. Jay

Can the President say whether these imports are one cause of the extraordinary miscalculations of the Ministry of Food—as shown in the Supplementary Estimates published today—which have gone so far to dislocate the Chancellor's Budget?

Mr. Thorneycroft

Any supplementary questions on the Estimates of the Ministry of Food should properly be addressed to my right hon. and gallant Friend.