EC Surplus Food (Hansard, 9 May 1991)

§ 6. Mr. Cryer
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will ensure that EC food distribution is available to all pensioners; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Curry
I see no reason to provide free food for people like my noble Friend Baroness Trumpington or the hon. Gentleman's friend the chairman of Mirror Group Newspapers.

§ Mr. Cryer
When the Minister has finished with his little sneers at pensioners, does he realise that men and women who fought for this country in the war have queued up to find, when they get to the end of the queue, that they are denied butter which they have paid for, since the Government have handed over £14 billion to the Common Market in the past 10 years because of their arbitrary impositions? Would not it be a decent gesture to allow all pensioners to have that little bit of butter, especially since some charities—the public schools of this country, where the sons and daughters of the wealthy go—are also eligible for free butter?

§ Mr. Curry
The hon. Gentleman will be familiar with the scheme from his days in the European Parliament. He will be aware that there are 3,000 tonnes of beef and 3,800 tonnes of butter. He will therefore be able to do the mathematics. If they were distributed to all those eligible and all pensioners, they would each get the princely amount of 7.5 oz of beef and 9.5 oz of butter. If that is the gesture that we are about to make to them, I expect that I would get a gesture in return.

§ Mrs. Gorman
Although I have no objection to the distribution of surplus food to pensioners or anyone else, does my hon. Friend agree that pensioner families., like all others in this country, are now contributing £830 a year on average to the common agricultural policy and pensioners, like the rest of our families, would rather have that money in their pockets to spend on the food that they choose to buy?

§ Mr. Curry
I agree with my hon. Friend that the way to deal with surpluses is to tackle them at source so that they cost less to ordinary people and to those on relatively modest wages. The surplus should not be perpetuated and 816 then dished out free, because that is most inefficient. If there is food to be distributed, the United Kingdom will have its share and it will go to the poorest people in society, which is the right way to do it. I am determined that that should happen. However, the thesis that my hon. Friend proposes is the sensible one—not to produce surpluses in the first place, which would cost us all less.

§ Mr. Cryer
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. In view of the totally inadequate answer to my question and the fact that the hon. Member for Birmingham, Northfield (Mr. King) described Bradford pensioners as stupid, I reserve the right to raise this matter on the Adjournment.

§ Mr. Holt
He has no right to do that.

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. Will the hon. Gentleman kindly contain himself. It is perfectly legitimate for the hon. Member for Bradford, South (Mr. Cryer) to say that he will raise the matter on the Adjournment. The hon. Member for Langbaurgh (Mr. Holt) has been here long enough to know the rules.

§ Mr. Holt
I am right.

§ Mr. Speaker
Unless the hon. Member for Langbaurgh (Mr. Holt) contains himself I shall have to ask him to leave the Chamber for this afternoon. Will he please be quiet.