Meat (Prices and Supplies)

HC Deb 24 January 1968 vol 757 cc389-90

5. Mr. Gardner

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his estimate of the effect on meat prices of the ban on imports from Argentina.

21. Mr. Stainton

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what estimate he has made of the effect of foot-and-mouth disease and the associated curtailment of meat imports on the availability and prices of meat in the shops; and whether he will make a statement.

Mr. Hoy

Total carcase meat supplies, particularly of beef, have been reduced because of import restrictions and difficulties in marketing and transporting stock in this country. But I cannot isolate the effect on supplies and prices of any single factor.

Retail prices inevitably increased following the rise since November in auction and wholesale prices, but many wholesale prices have fallen in the last fortnight and I expect this to be reflected in the shops.

Mr. Gardner

While fully agreeing that this ban has had to be imposed during the present emergency, may I ask whether my hon. Friend will accept that its continuance will have severe effects on the poorest section of the community who tend to buy this cheaper meat? Will he give an assurance that whatever other pressures may be put upon him either from hon. Members opposite or from the industry generally, he will finally make up his mind about the continuation of the ban on the evidence and not as a result of pressure or for other reasons?

Mr. Hoy

My hon. Friend can have this assurance, that we consider every factor concerned. This is one of the matters which have got to be considered. We also have to consider the consumer as well as everybody else. This brings out one of the difficulties with which my hon. Friend dealt in replying to a previous Question.

Sir G. Nabarro

Would not the hon. Gentleman agree that the failure of the Government to produce a policy which would give real inducements to fanners to raise more beef during the last three years is the real cause today of high prices in the shops—not the estoppel of imports of meat from the Argentine?

Mr. Hoy

The hon. Gentleman is quite wrong. If he will look back at the last Annual Price Review he will see the considerable encouragement that the Government gave to the industry to produce more beef. There is no substance at all in the allegations that he made.