Dairy Herd (Hansard, 6 May 1982)

§ 19. Mr. Nicholas Winterton
asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the present level of the dairy herd in the United Kingdom.

§ Mr. Buchanan-Smith
In December 1981 there were 3,295,000 dairy cattle in the United Kingdom.

§ Mr. Winterton
I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for that reply. However, I take up the point made so ably by my hon. Friend the Member for Skipton (Mr. Watson). Does my right hon. Friend accept that the interests of the British dairy farmer are not always those of the dairy farmer in other parts of the European Economic Community? Will he give yet again an assurance to the House that we shall not agree to any measures being introduced within the common agricultural policy that will discriminate against our dairy farmers? Has he any evidence that other countries within the Community have devised national aids to support their dairy farmers to the disadvantage of ours?

§ Mr. Buchanan-Smith
Various national aids are under the Commission's scrutiny. We shall watch carefully the matters that my hon. Friend has raised. That which we have negotiated over the past week is evidence of what my hon. Friend wants to achieve, which I know the entire House wants to achieve. We shall continue with that policy. Dairy farmers in Denmark and the Netherlands have exactly the same interests as our dairy farmers and do not want to see efficient production discriminated against.

§ Mr. Buchan
Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that the problem that we are facing is exactly the same as that which confronts us in other areas of the EEC? Does he accept that, instead of developing flexible policies to suit each nation's needs, we are going along with the stupid policy of using the end price as a means of dealing with the social problem created by the small herds in Europe? Should not the Minister be supporting the French in their argument that they need to develop national aids for their industry? He should follow suit by adopting the same policies to support our dairy herd within the Community.

§ Mr. Buchanan-Smith
The hon. Gentleman ignores two factors. The indiscriminate extension of national aids is more likely than anything else to contribute to unfair competition, which will penalise the more efficient producers of Europe. Secondly, the hon. Gentleman must realise that within the CAP there are structural and social policies as well as price policies. We want to see an extension of some of these policies to overcome the problems that he has mentioned.

§ Mr. Archie Hamilton
Does my right hon. Friend think that there is any chance that the Common Market will reintroduce the premium for slaughtering dairy cows?

§ Mr. Buchanan-Smith
I hope that there is not. It was an ineffective scheme, which did not achieve its aims. We opposed it and we shall carefully examine any attempt to reintroduce it.