HC Deb 28 July 1977 vol 936 cc909-11
1. Mr. Canavan

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he next expects to meet his EEC counterparts.

5. Mr. Farr

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what discussions he has had recently with the Council of Ministers and with the European Commission.

14. Mr. Molloy

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he next expects to meet his EEC colleagues.

The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Mr. John Silkin)

I would refer my hon. Friends and the hon. Member to the statement that I made on 22nd July following the meeting of the Council of Ministers (Agriculture) on 18th-19th July. I will be meeting my colleagues again on on 26th-27th September.

Mr. Canavan

Can my right hon. Friend tell his Common Market counterparts that nowhere is the stupidity of the Common Market so evident as in his three areas of responsibility? In agriculture, it has meant inefficient production. In fisheries, the absence of an exclusive zone continues to threaten the very livelihood of our fishermen. In food, it has meant inflated food prices and mountains of waste. Is it any wonder that yesterday the Labour Party NEC called for the whole question of our Common Market membership to be reopened? It is obvious that most people were conned in the referendum two years ago.

Mr. Silkin

Certainly the questions that my hon. Friend has suggested relating to agriculture, fisheries and food arose, though my own contribution was perhaps not entirely couched in the language which my hon. Friend has just used. However, I hope that it was effective.

Mr. Farr

Is the Minister correctly reported in today's newspapers to be urging in Brussels the lowering of the beef intervention buying point to 85 per cent. of the reference price? If that is so, how can it do other than further erode producers' confidence and increase uncertainty among beef producers in Great Britain?

Mr. Silkin

I have not seen the article in question, so I am afraid that I cannot comment upon it.

Mr. Torney

When my right hon. Friend next meets his EEC counterparts, will he raise with them, or urge them, or coerce them, or threaten them—I do not mind which—on the question of purchasing inferior quality beef from third countries? My right hon. Friend may be aware that that beef is required for manufacture, and that the manufacturing industries in this country will perish if he does not get this inferior manufacturing beef from third countries.

Mr. Silkin

There is an important point here relating to what my hon. Friend calls inferior quality beef. However, it is tied up with the much wider question of a freer, more liberal importation into this country of beef from third countries in general and from Commonwealth countries in particular.

Mr. Powell

Will the Minister continue to derive support and encouragement in his work at Brussels from the assertion of the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs that this Parliament and the British people, when they consider it fit, are entitled to review the whole question of this country's membership of the EEC?

Mr. Silkin

I do not think that that is a matter entirely for me, but I am interested to hear from the right hon. Gentleman what my right hon. Friend said on the matter.

Mr. James Johnson

Will the Minister accept that this is not a hypothetical question? In the event of our people not getting a 12-mile exclusive zone, will the Minister then stick out for a 50-mile exclusive economic zone?

Mr. Silkin

I think that I made that clear in my statement on 22nd July, but it is perhaps worth reiterating. The position that I took up with my Common Market colleagues at the last meeting remains the position of Her Majesty's Government. We want to preserve the twin objectives of which I have always spoken to the House—conservation of fish and conservation of the livelihood of our people. If by being a little more flexible we can preserve those objectives, certainly we shall do so. If not, our original proposal remains on the table, and that is the proposal which our colleagues will have to deal with.

Mr. Watt

When the Minister next meets his EEC counterparts, will he discuss with them the malfunctioning of the co-efficient of MCAs and the grossly unfair methods of calculating these coefficients that has militated against the export of meat and lamb from Britain?

Mr. Silkin

There are times when I think that this is practically the sole topic of conversation in Brussels. We discuss it again and again.