Milk Quotas (Hansard, 25 October 1984)

§ 3. Mr. Heathcoat-Amory
asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he is satisfied that the dairy quotas are being implemented properly in other European Economic Community countries.

§ Mr. Jopling
I have raised this question in the Agriculture Council, and it is clear that most member states are making strenuous efforts to ensure that the supplementary levy is properly applied. I have pressed the Commission to take the necessary action to ensure that any failures to apply the levy are dealt with.

§ Mr. Heathcoat-Amory
is my right hon. Friend aware that the milk levy system is not being implemented by most other Common Market countries? Will he press for penalties against those countries? What relief can he offer the British farmer who has cut back fully and is now seen as the fall guy of Europe?

§ Mr. Jopling
The Agriculture Commissioner has made it clear that most member states have the necessary national legislation in force. Considerable progress has been made in establishing the administrative procedures. I remind my hon. Friend that there is no ban on production outside quotas. Provided that member states collect the appropriate amount of levy from those responsible for the surplus, they will be complying with the supplementary levy regulations.

§ Mr. Torney
Is the Minister aware that the Select Committee on Agriculture is going to Brussels next week to try to find out whether other member states are implementing the levy? If the Select Committee discovers that they are not implementing the levy, or not 793 implementing it correctly, will the right hon. Gentleman undertake to abolish the implementation of the levy in the United Kingdom?

§ Mr. Jopling
I wish the hon. Gentleman a pleasant trip to Brussels next week. I welcome the efforts of the Select Committee in persuading the Commission to make sure that every member state implements the rules properly. With the exception of Italy, which in fact has a particular derogation until the end of the quota year, my own feeling is a good deal more optimistic than it was that other member states are implementing the rules.

§ Sir Peter Mills
I congratulate my right hon. Friend on the stand that he has already taken in Europe on penalties, but will he bear in mind that the fear of those in British agriculture is justified and that there must be the most rigorous inspection and checking to see that people do not cheat, and particularly to see that next time the Irish do not get away with it?

§ Mr. Jopling
I thank my hon. Friend for his initial remarks, but I remind him that I have raised that issue at the last three meetings of the Council of Ministers. As I said earlier, there is no ban on production outside quotas. With a levy of up to 100 per cent. of the target price, we expect most producers to make a strenuous effort to comply with their quotas over the year as a whole. Frankly, it is an expensive business if one does not comply with one's quota.

§ Mr. Geraint Howells
I am sure that the Minister is well aware of the fact that the milk quotas have had a disastrous effect on the Welsh economy. Will he now consider establishing a proposal for Wales to have an extra quota at next year's price review and negotiations?

§ Mr. Jopling
If the hon. Gentleman were to look at the outgoers scheme, bearing in mind that there is a large preponderence of small farmers in his part of Wales,. I think he will agree that my intention to give preference through the scheme, to redistribute the quota particularly to smaller farmers, will be of particular benefit to farmers in both Wales and the south-west of England.

§ Mr. Hunter
Despite all that my right hon. Friend has just said, is he aware that dairy farmers in this country have presided over a 9 per cent. reduction in production and witnessed a £1,875 loss of income? How can we justify a policy of milk quotas to our dairy farmers if it is continually disregarded by our Common Market friends?

§ Mr. Jopling
The cut that British dairy farmers have to make is not 9 per cent., as my hon. Friend said, but 6.5 per cent. Within the Community I see evidence that member states are moving towards their levy quantity. The latest information that I understand the Commission has about the French dairy industry is that the French authorities expect that the current trend in milk production in France and the response from their outgoers scheme will mean that no levy will become due at the end of the year.

§ Miss Maynard
Can the Minister tell us how many farm workers have lost their jobs because of the imposition of quotas? Will he give further consideration to the payment of compensation to any farm worker who loses his job because of quotas?

§ Mr. Jopling
I have answered that question before. I have no knowledge of the number of farm workers who 794 may or may not have lost their jobs, but I have told the House before about the arrangements to compensate those who are unfortunate enough to lose their jobs.

§ Sir Geoffrey Johnson Smith
What reassurance can my right hon. Friend give to small dairy farmers producing 200,000 litres and less that their quotas will be brought back to 1983 production levels?

§ Mr. Jopling
Our outgoers scheme has been oversubscribed in terms of applicants. We have already issued invitations to a sufficient number of applicants to reach the 2.25 per cent. of quota which will take up the £50 million that I have provided. So long as that amount of quota is made available for redistribution, I hope that the smaller dairy farmers will enjoy most of the benefits by having their quotas brought back to 1983 production patterns.

§ Mr. Nicholson
We all know that the quotas are not being properly implemented in other European countries, whereas in the United Kingdom they are being properly implemented. Nowhere is that more apparent than in Northern Ireland, where 5,000 dairy farmers stand to pay a levy of £5.2 million. Is the Minister aware of the serious damage that this will do to Northern Ireland, agriculture and does he regard it as fair in view of the absolute failure of the buy-out scheme in Northern Ireland which has not come up to his expectations?

§ Mr. Jopling
I am aware that a smaller proportion of Northern Ireland dairy farmers than we expected have applied for the outgoers scheme. Many dairy farmers throughout the Community will be liable to pay a levy, but for Northern Ireland producers who have overshot their quota the Commission recently agreed that 50 per cent. of the levy should be collected as planned at the end of the present quarter, but that the remainder would be due at the end of the 1984–85 marketing year.

§ Mr. Maxwell-Hyslop
What protection has our domestic market against over quota production of butter in the Republic of Ireland being dumped here?

§ Mr. Jopling
As my hon. Friend knows, there is a free market for dairy produce of certain types within the Community and there is a relatively free market in butter between member states.

§ Mr. Robert Hughes
Will the Minister publish a comprehensive review of the legislative and adminstrative arrangements which other EEC countries intend to make to collect the levy so that we all know exactly what is happening? Is he aware that in almost every EEC country but our own production this year has already reached such a level that the balance of quota remaining is far less than the expected production between now and March? How can he be so sure that the levy will indeed be collected?

§ Mr. Jopling
If the hon. Gentleman cares to put down a question on this I shall do my best to answer it in the detail that he might prefer. I should point out, however, that many Community countries were reducing their milk production towards quota levels in the first months of the scheme. For instance, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg made reductions in the April to July period. As the hon. Gentleman and I well know, however, the United Kingdom reduction has been greatly accelerated due to the exceptionally dry weather which our dairy industry had to put up with in the summer.