HC Deb 04 July 1974 vol 876 c592
21. Mr. Rost

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he proposes to introduce a rationing scheme for English cheese.

Mr. Buchan

No, Sir.

Mr. Rost

What will the Minister do about the declining production of English cheese, and particularly the quality farmhouse cheeses, such as Derby, Leicestershire and Stilton? Is he aware that we are rapidly getting to a situation in which it is necessary to go to a supermarket to buy foreign cheese—which is subsidised and which is flooding into the country—and to a delicatessen store to buy good quality English cheeses?

Mr. Buchan

I welcome the hon. Gentleman's advertising of his own home products. There is really no problem other than that of advertising.

Mr. Body

Is there any sense in continuing the high levy of £200 a ton upon cheese from New Zealand and Canada?

Mr. Buchan

I am the last person who should be blamed for that levy. That remark should be directed at the hon. Gentleman's Front Bench colleagues and their supporters. Such a levy does affect our prices. That is one reason for my right hon. Friend's saying throughout Question Time, that he is hell-bent on renegotiaiting into sense some of the worst excesses of the common agricultural policy.