HC Deb 22 November 1973 vol 864 cc1537-40
13. Mr. Marten

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what levies or duties are now being imposed on the imports of butter from outside the EEC into the United Kingdom.

40. Mr. Orme

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what import levies or duties are now charged on cheese imports into the United Kingdom from outside the EEC.

Mr. Anthony Stodart

After applying the monetary compensatory amounts, the present rates of levy applied to imports of butter and cheese from New Zealand under Protocol 18 are nil and £96.84 a ton respectively. From other countries outside the Community they are £195.38 a ton for butter and £255.05 a ton for cheddar cheese.

Mr. Marten

Is my hon. Friend aware that I will do anything within reason to help the Government to keep prices down? Will he welcome opposition by many of my hon. Friends and myself to the orders which the Government are about to introduce and other measures when they come before the House? Does he agree that such action would greatly strengthen the Government's popularity?

Mr. Stodart

I fully accept the sentiments which my hon. Friend has expressed, which I would fully expect from him. I do not think that the suggestion he has made would be acceptable to the Government.

Mr. Orme

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the figures he has announced to the House relating to basic foods are terrifying? Does he realise that they are foods, for example, cheese—which older people buy and eat in considerable quantities because of their need for nourishment and because of the cost of other foods? What will the Government do about offsetting the levies? Will they introduce subsidies to take prices back to their previous level, or will they allow food prices to escalate in the present manner?

Mr. Stodart

It may help the hon. Gentleman and the House if I say that New Zealand cheese is selling at the same price as it was 22 months ago and that butter is cheaper by 7p per lb than it was before accession in 1972.

Mr. Powell

Would prices of these articles be lower today if the duties and levies were not applied by the EEC?

Mr. Stodart

I do not think that that necessarily follows.

Mr. Jay

If the Government want to keep down food prices, why do they not remove these taxes forthwith?

Mr. Stodart

Perhaps I should remind the right hon. Gentleman that the system of levies is a basic part of the common agricultural policy, which the Opposition said was not negotiable. The CAP has shown its flexibility by subsidising prices to the effect which I have described.

Mr. Shore

I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman's honesty. He has come clean. How can he reconcile what he has told the House—namely, that approximately £200 a ton is imposed by food taxes on imported food—with his previous statement and the statement of his right hon. Friend that the main or sole cause for rising prices in Britain is the rise in world prices?

Mr. Stodart

I should not have thought' that there was the slightest discrepancy.

15. Mr. Atkinson

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what import duties or levies are now imposed on beef imports into the EEC.

11. Mr. Alexander Wilson

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what import duties or levies are now imposed on beef imports into the EEC.

Mr. Anthony Stodart

As there are a large number of figures involved, I will circulate the information in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Mr. Atkinson

Does the hon. Gentleman accept that he has run away from his responsibility to give to the House accurate information for the purpose of questioning Ministers further? Will he confirm that there is a levy on beef at a time when most housewives are unable to purchase it? If we were not a member of the EEC, would the Government now be imposing a levy or a tax upon beef?

Mr. Stodart

I can assure the hon. Gentleman that the answer to his Question is comprised of a large number of figures and that it would not be practicable to read the figures in an oral answer.

At the moment the levy is so small that it hardly exists. The maximum levy is £0.5394 per cwt, which is slightly under a halfpenny a pound. The minimum levy is £0.0725 per cwt, which is almost incalculably small. Each of those figures is far smaller than the duty which was imposed before accession on nearly all beef imports—namely 5 per cent.

Mr. Body

Is it the case that the levies do not necessarily affect the price of beef, butter and cheese? If that is so, what is the point of imposing the levies?

Mr. Stodart

The levies are a part, as I have already told the House, of the common agricultural policy.

Mr. Stallard

Will the hon. Gentleman confirm what a recent survey has suggested—namely, that we are eating less beef per head than in the last months of meat rationing? Will he accept that that suggestion, plus the fantastic price of cheese and bacon—bacon being 12s. 6d. per 1b in my constituency—means that many old people are finding it almost impossible to maintain a reasonably high protein diet that is necessary for their existence?

Mr. Stodart

No. I think I am right in saying that the consumption of cheese is higher. [HON. MEMBERS: "Beef".] The hon. Gentleman mentioned cheese in his last sentence. He suggested that the consumption of beef was now lower than it was in the last stages of rationing. It is not if we take into account, as is only reasonable, the fact that so much more food is eaten away from home than it was at the end of rationing.

Mr. Shore

Does not the hon. Gentleman agree that a major cause of the rise in meat prices in Britain during the past year is the export of meat from Britain to the EEC, where prices are much higher? Is it not the case that the only exchange of commodities with the EEC on which our balance of trade has improved in the past 10 months is in the export of meat of which we are exporting so much more?

Mr. Stodart

The right hon. Gentleman is being too disingenuous for words. He knows well that the habit has grown up, which I do not think is a bad habit, of people eating in canteens rather than going home for a midday meal.

Following is the information:—

EEC DUTIES AND LEVIES ON FRESH, CHILLED AND FROZEN BEEF IMPORTED FROM THIRD COUNTRIES

Current duty and levy rates are as follows:

Original EEC and Denmark
Full Duty Levy
20 per cent. Current rates listed below
United Kingdom
Full Duty Levy
Bone-in: 4 per cent. plus £0.2488 per cwt. Nil
Boned/Boneless: 8 per cent. —
Irish Republic
Full Duty Levy
4 per cent. plus £4.4092 per 100 kgs. Nil

Levy rates applied by original EEC and Denmark during the week beginning 19th November 1973:

£ per cwt.
Fresh/chilled Beef
Carcases, sides and compensated quarters 0.3145
Forequarters 0.2516
Hindquarters 0.3772
Other cuts—unboned 0.4715
Other cuts—boned/boneless 0.5394
Frozen Beef
Carcases, sides and compensated quarters 0.0906
Forequarters 0.0725
Hindquarters 0.1134
Unboned cuts 0.1359
Boned/boneless cuts:
Specified forequarter cuts 0.1134
Crop, chuck, blade and brisket cuts 0.1134*
Other cuts 0.1558
* Entry under this heading is subject to the production of a certificate issued by exporting countries on conditions laid down by the EEC. The form of certification has not yet been agreed between the Commission and the supplying countries.

Notes:

(a)The duty and levy rates shown do not include preferential rates such as the United Kingdom duty of 4 per cent. on all beef from the Commonwealth Preference Area.

(b)The amounts of duty chargeable on imports into the United Kingdom are mainly reduced to NIL under the monetary arrangements.