HC Deb 16 April 1959 vol 603 cc1127-8
31 and 32. Mr. Champion

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what are the reasons for his refusal to reappoint Mr. J. Craig to the East Sussex County Agricultural Executive Committee;

(2) what reply he has made to the resolution of the East Sussex County Agricultural Executive Committee deploring his failure to reappoint Mr. J. Craig, who have given seventeen years of service as a member of that committee; and to what extent he consulted the committee before arriving at his decision.

Mr. Godber

My right hon. Friend has already expressed his warm appreciation of Mr. Craig's long and valued service. It would, however, be quite improper for him to state his reasons for not reappointing a particular member of a county agricultural executive committee or to indicate the action taken on the resolution of the East Sussex Committee. As the hon. Member must know, it has never been the practice to consult committees about their own membership.

Mr. Champion

While I understand the Joint Parliamentary Secretary's reluctance to give reasons, may I ask whether he does not appreciate that this is contrary to a promise given recently by the Minister that he would take these important committees into his consultation about matters of importance to the committees and to agriculture generally? Surely the membership of these committees is an important matter. It seems to me that this committee has been very hard done by as a result of the Minister's action.

Mr. Godber

I can assure the hon. Member that it is certainly not my right hon. Friend's intention to cast any slight or slur on individual members of the committee or the committee as a whole, but he will realize that it would not be possible to consult the Committee about its own membership. Apart from that, my right hon. Friend is very anxious to maintain the closest consultation with the committees, and he is doing all that he can in that connection.

Colonel Beamish

Is my hon. Friend aware that Mr. John Craig is so well known and respected both as a man and as a farmer in Sussex and that his valued work on the committee is so well known that very few people in Sussex or the neighbouring counties would be likely to suppose that my right hon. Friend has any reason for not reappointing him to the committee other than the fact that he has already served on it with distinction for seventeen years?

Mr. Godber

I am very glad to have my hon. and gallant Friend's comments on that point. I can only endorse his words about Mr. Craig, who is extremely well known and very respected in the area.