Green Pound

HC Deb 08 March 1990 vol 168 cc989-90

5. Mr. Yeo

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what recent representations he has received regarding the level of the green pound.

Mr. Gummer

I have received a large number of representations pressing for the green pound to be devalued.

Mr. Yeo

Does my right hon. Friend agree that at present the green pound constitutes an unfair burden on the British farmer? Is he aware that the efforts that he is making to have that penalty removed command the enthusiastic and total support of farmers in Suffolk, South?

Mr. Gummer

I am glad that my neighbouring constituency supports that, because I believe that it is of great importance that farmers in Britain should be able to compete on equal terms with farmers in the rest of the Community. The green pound means that they work at a considerable disadvantage. We are fighting for a substantial reduction in that disadvantage, and I take every opportunity to press the Commission for a more realistic proposal than the one that it has put on the table so far.

Mr. Andrew Welsh

Is not it ludicrous that British farmers have been working under a green pound disadvantage ever since we entered the Common Market, which means that the unfairness has now lasted almost two decades? Does the Minister agree that British farmers want to compete fairly, especially at a time of high interest rates, and that that fairness can commence only when green pound anomalies are eliminated?

Mr. Gummer

What the hon. Gentleman says is not true. For some time we had the benefit of a green pound that operated in the opposite direction and there was much less concern among British farmers to right the difference on those occasions. The fact remains that in recent years there has been a major disadvantage, and the hon. Gentleman is perfectly right about that. We know that it must be eliminated, and it has to be eliminated by the end of 1992. The quicker we redress the unfairness, the better. After 1992 we must have a system that is fair to all farmers in the Community, because British farmers will compete if they are given a fair chance to do so.