§ 18. Miss Burtonasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he is prepared to consider the formation of a consumers' committee with direct access to him in his capacity as Minister of Food so that he may be kept informed of consumer problems regarding price, distribution and quality of food.
Mr. AmoryI doubt whether such a committee would be able to add to the considerable information that already reaches me through other channels.
§ Miss BurtonMay I ask the right hon. Gentleman what this Government have got against the housewives of this country, since repeatedly they pay attention to the producers, wholesalers and retailers, but never to the housewives? Will he look at this matter again in view of the Government's shocking record over potatoes?
Mr. AmoryI should welcome such a committee if I thought it would provide me with information that I do not already get, but a committee of this kind, covering as wide a field as the whole of food supplies, would not provide me with additional information. I assure the hon. Lady that I get an immense amount of information flowing to me through every 13 possible channel, and she herself is not the least of these channels, if I may respectfully refer to her in that way.
§ Mr. WilleySurely the right hon. Gentleman's mind is not as closed as all that. The general experience is that he is completely disregarding the interests of the consumer. Would it not be a good thing if an obligation were placed upon him to meet the consumers?
Mr. AmoryI think the proof of the pudding is in the eating. I pay more attention to what the consumer feels in the long run than to what the hon. Member tells me in the House of Commons is the consumers' view.