§ 7. Mr. Jayasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he intends to remove the present restrictions on imports of beef into the United Kingdom from outside the EEC.
§ Mr. StrangThe European Commission has announced that it envisages lifting on 1st April 1977 the safeguard clause under which imports of beef into the EEC are at present restricted. The Council of Ministers is discussing the new arrangements under which imports will be allowed, once the safeguard clause has been lifted.
§ Mr. JayIs my hon. Friend aware that large supplies of beef are now available in Australia, Argentina, Brazil and elsewhere, which could be sold to British housewives at not much more than half the present price, and that nothing stands in the way of this except the extreme protectionism of the EEC? Is not this, indeed, an example of an insane price increase?
§ Mr. StrangMy right hon. Friend is right to draw attention to supplies of beef that exist in Australia. Australia has suffered from the closure to her of the Community market, together with the Japanese and American markets. We hope that the liberal import arrangements for which we are pressing will enable Australian beef to come into the Community after 1st April.
§ Mr. Nicholas WintertonIn any steps that the hon. Gentleman is disposed to take, will he act in the interests of our farmers and ensure that the British beef farmer is not totally undermined by cheap imports? The future of the country depends on our farmers producing more of the food that we require from our own resources, which is the title of his Government's own document.
§ Mr. StrangA supplementary question of that kind comes ill from the hon. Gentleman. It was the present Labour Government who, in renegotiating the CAP, secured the variable premium for farmers, for which they continue to be grateful, and my right hon. Friend is determined to maintain it.