§ 8. Mr. Hooleyasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what estimate he has made of the cost to the United Kingdom in 1975 of the reimposition of import levies on grains and wheat.
§ Mr. StrangUp till now any levies have usually been cancelled out by Community subsidies. The extent to which this will continue to be the case will depend on movements in world prices and exchange rates, which I am unable to forecast.
§ Mr. HooleyWill my hon. Friend confirm that the imposition of these levies demonstrates beyond any refutation that world prices are currently below Community prices? Will he also confirm that in so far as tariffs existed previously on the import of food, as suggested by our right hon. Friend, those tariffs accrued to the British Exchequer and not to continental farmers?
§ Mr. StrangI think that my hon. Friend will recognise that in or out of the Community, as he has acknowledged, we must protect our own producers. He will also recognise the fact that what counts in terms of British consumers is the net effective levy. The net effective levy this day on imported wheat is negative. In fact, at present there is a subsidy of about £1 a ton on imported wheat. The position is that the compensatory amount is almost exactly equal to the overall Community levy.