Beef

HC Deb 24 March 1965 vol 709 cc560-3

37. Mr. Peter Mills

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether, in view of the increased costs to the beef industry, he is satisfied that adequate recoupment has been made to this industry; and if he will make a statement.

43. Mr. Scott-Hopkins

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether, in view of the increase it costs to the breeders and fatteners of beef animals, he is satisfied that sufficient attention has been paid to the need to maintain and increase their level of production; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Peart

Costs are one of the factors we took into account at the Review. The increases we have made in the guaranteed price, the calf subsidy, the hill cow subsidy, as well as on milk, are designed to encourage an increase in beef production.

Mr. Mills

Will the right hon. Gentleman bear in mind that the amount that we had from the Price Review was only about half what was necessary to keep the confidence of the beef industry going, and, indeed, that he has done nothing with regard to the heifer subsidy or any of the other proposals which were suggested?

Mr. Peart

The hon. Gentleman cannot have read the White Paper. If he looks at the increased price for cattle, plus the increase in the calf subsidy rate, he will find that, altogether, it is a plus award of £8 million. This is not inconsiderable.

Mr. Scott-Hopkins

Will the right hon. Gentleman remember the words that he uttered about a long-term policy for beef? Does he intend to implement the proposal? If so, when? Or is this another of the Government's half-broken pledges?

Mr. Peart

Certainly the proposals in the Review will be implemented. Apart from beef, I want improved marketing, which will in the end help the producer. That is why I am initiating discussions, as I said earlier—so that a decision can be reached.

Mr. Hamling

Will my right hon. Friend publish another White Paper now stating just how much taxpayers' money has been paid to the farming industry since the war? Will he also state what other private industry has ever been assisted to this extent by the taxpayers?

Mr. Speaker

Order. We must restrict the supplementary questions to beef, or we shall be going a little wide of the original Question.

Mr. Bruce-Gardyne

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that beef producers in many parts of the country are not obtaining any net return at all at present, and that there is no hope of getting the sort of increase in beef production that we need on the basis of the miserly improvements offered in the Price Review?

Mr. Peart

The hon. Gentleman should bear in mind that I have given an award of £8 million for increased beef production, which is not being ungenerous. Also, in view of the market position and the demand, there have been high prices. So beef producers will not be impoverished.

Sir M. Redmayne

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that it is the sort of view which has been expressed by his hon. Friend the Member for Woolwich, West (Mr. Hamling) which is destroying the confidence of farmers because they believe that that view permeates the Labour Party?

Mr. Peart

The right hon. Gentleman should know that I have always been a greater defender of the 1947 and 1957 Acts in principle, and the Labour Party defends the principle. [Interruption.] All right. If the right hon. Member for Bexley (Mr. Heath) had had his way and we had gone into the Community under the terms of the Common Market—

Mr. Speaker

Order. The House requires me to secure reasonable progress with Questions. They cannot wander round the European map. Also, with respect, answers should not be used for making attacks on other people, because that merely provokes further debate.

Mr. Peart

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. In reply to an intervention by the right hon. Member for Rushcliffe (Sir M. Redmayne), I was merely suggesting that the Conservative Party, if it had taken the advice of his colleague, would have destroyed the basis of the 1947 and 1957 Acts, which, after all, is fundamentally the basis of the policy which I am advocating today.

Mr. Speaker

I know that there are all sorts of things wrong. One is that every intervention by the Chair ends up in a waste of time, which is not what was intended. Another thing is that observations from a seated posture do not help very much.

Mr. Shinwell

Is my right hon. Friend aware that there has never been a time in the past 40 years or so since I have been in this assembly when the farmers have ceased to grumble? Is he also aware that we on this side consider that he is making a first-class job of the Ministry?

Mr. George Y. Mackie

Does the right hon. Gentleman really think that a 1d. on a gallon of milk will keep the small producers in business? Does he think that the increase in the price of beef will enable small farmers to shift from milk to beef?

Mr. Peart

I have given replies about what I have done for beef, and how there has been a plus award. As to the small farmer, I have described in the White Paper a policy for a small farmer scheme which is an improvement on the previous one, and the allocation of £5 million for the small farmer scheme is a step in the direction of ensuring that small farmers can become more efficient and more viable.