HC Deb 29 April 1970 vol 800 cc1239-41
22. Mr. Wingfield Digby

asked the President of the Board of Trade why he decided to raise the quota for imported butter by 28,000 tons this year.

26. Mr. Buchanan-Smith

asked the President of the Board of Trade what estimate he has made of the effect on home production of his decision to increase the quota of imported butter.

Mrs. Gwyneth Dunwoody

No effect is expected since estimated home production was taken fully into account before the import quota was fixed. The basis on which the quota was fixed was explained in the reply to the hon. Member for Edinburgh, West (Mr. Stodart) on 15th April.—[Vol. 799, c. 246.]

Mr. Wingfield Digby

Is not this discouraging for dairy farmers in their present difficulties, and does not it reflect the Government's lack of sympathy for the farmers?

Mrs. Dunwoody

It is quite wrong to suggest that the Government are not sympathetic to the farmers. They seem to me to bend over backwards to assist them. The 1970–71 quota is 28,000 tons higher than that for 1969–70, but it is still 37,000 tons less than in 1968–69 and well below the average for the last five years, which was 445,000 tons.

Mr. Buchanan-Smith

Will the Parliamentary Secretary explain how the Government can ever hope to gain the confidence of home agriculture when their exhortations to save imports are so manifestly superficial? Must we have this constant double-talk about agriculture?

Mrs. Dunwoody

If hon. Gentlemen opposite were more careful to give accurate information to the farmers in their constituencies there would be far less misunderstanding. If they also showed more interest in the consumers' point of view we might get a more balanced discussion in the House on the problems of agriculture.

Mr. Orme

Will my hon. Friend tell the House what proportion of these butter imports are coming from Common Market countries where there are large surpluses at high prices, and what effect this will have on the British economy?

Mrs. Dunwoody

I do not have that breakdown, but the butter stock level on 1st April was 79,000 tons, and in these circumstances to keep imports at last year's level would have kept consumers short of supplies.

Mr. Stodart

Short of increasing the consumption of butter in the British market, does not this increase make absolute nonsense of the repeated exhortation of the Government to save imports?

Mrs. Dunwoody

I have explained more than once that the figures are still well below the average. We must also concern ourselves with the interests of the housewife. The hon. Gentleman is very vocal about the farmers; I would like to hear him being equally vocal about the consumers.

23. Mr. Wingfield Digby

asked the President of the Board of Trade why he has decided to leave the £100,000 butter quota for China unchanged.

Mrs. Gwyneth Dunwoody

This small quota, which has remained unchanged for 12 years, exists for different reasons from the general butter quotas, and we saw no reason to extend to it the increases my right hon. Friend announced in them on 23rd March.—[Vol. 798, c. 294.]

Mr. Wingfield Digby

I appreciate the importance of consumer choice, but is it necessary to continue this quota? Is not France sending a lot of butter to China?

Mrs. Dunwoody

The hon. Member will accept, I am sure, that I am not, happily, responsible for exports from France. This quota is less than one-tenth of 1 per cent. of our total butter imports. Our trade with China has been expanding at a considerable rate, since in 1969 we exported £51.8 million and we imported only £37.7 million.