HC Deb 14 April 1993 vol 222 cc812-3
3. Mr. Oppenheim

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will make a statement on relations with France.

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. Tristan Garel-Jones)

We enjoy close and friendly relations with France based on many shared interests, included membership of the European Community, the Security Council, NATO, the Group of 7 and many other international organisations. In recent years close practical co-operation has increased as a result of the world-wide role of our two countries. We expect the close relationship to continue with the new Government.

Mr. Oppenheim

Is there not something faintly disreputable about a country which expects to be able to export a high proportion of the food that it produces but which takes minimal action against its own producers when they burn lorry loads of live English lamb and wreck consignments of fish? Should we not gently tell our French partners that they have no right to deny European consumers, who already subsidise them through taxes, a wider and freer choice of food by trying to wreck the GATT round which has been so painstakingly negotiated and which is so near to a successful conclusion?

Mr. Garel-Jones

France is our third largest trading partner. My hon. Friend is right in the sense that France has not only a population similar to that of the United Kingdom but similar consumer interests. I certainly believe that the French stand to gain more from an open market approach than from the sort of protectionist approach that my hon. Friend mentions. We have no reason to believe that the French Government are about to adopt protectionist policies. The new Government have inherited some difficult policy decisions but remain committed to working within the European Community framework for a successful conclusion to the GATT round.

Mr. Skinner

Is the Minister aware that it is no wonder that France has friendly relations with Britain when we consider that its trading surplus with us is very large and that we are running a trade deficit with France? Part of the reason for that is that we subsidise French electricity and then kindly buy an amount equivalent to about 6 million tonnes of coal. If this Minister and the Tory Government had any guts at all, they would tell the French that we intend to cut the interconnector and save the British pits.

Mr. Garel-Jones

This Minister and this Government believe in free trade. It is our intention and our policy, wherever possible, to ensure that the British consumer gets the best value, whether in energy, food or in any other matter.