§ 12. Mr. ClappisonTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what plans she has to improve the competitiveness of United Kingdom agricultural exports.
§ Mr. JackHelp to improve the competitiveness of UK agricultural exports will come through our continuing support of "Food From Britain," MAFF's continental challenge, our export promotion division, and the programmes outlined in the White Paper, "Competitiveness—Helping Business to Win".
§ Mr. ClappisonDoes my hon. Friend agree that although the British food industry has reduced the food trade gap by half since the 1960s, many opportunities remain for the industry to close the gap still further and should not the industry receive every encouragement to do so?
§ Mr. JackWe are certainly trying to give a lot of encouragement to the food and farming industry to help close the trade gap. It is interesting to note that in the last decade the value of our exports of food, animal feed and drink has increased by 50 per cent. and the schemes that I outlined in my initial reply are all available to those in food and farming to assist with exports. We are backing this up as a ministerial team by going to some of the most rapidly expanding markets in the world, such as China and India, to promote our exports.
§ Mr. GrocottGiven that the Government's record in promoting trade in industrial products has been one of turning a huge surplus under Labour in 1979 to a massive deficit in the latest figures under the Tories, does the hon. Gentleman share my severe doubts about the Government's competence to do anything about agricultural exports?
§ Mr. JackAbsolutely not. The hon. Gentleman was clearly not listening to the argument that I advanced a moment ago, so I will repeat it: exports of food, animal feed and drink have increased in value over the past decade by 50 per cent. As a result of MAFF's trade promotion activities, we alone in recent years have done something like an additional £55 million worth of business by going out and pathfinding our way to new markets.
§ Mr. John GreenwayDoes my hon. Friend agree that we should be concerned to ensure that opportunities in the United Kingdom's agricultural sector are not closed by too strict an application of quotas through the common agricultural policy? We have the most efficient sugar regime and probably the most effective and efficient dairy regime, but our quota is less than our national consumption.
§ Mr. JackI very much agree with my hon. Friend. He will know that my right hon. Friend the Minister has continually emphasised our objective, which is to see the quotas and restrictions on production removed. We have an extremely efficient agriculture industry, especially in the spheres that my hon. Friend mentioned, and we should very much like them to have the opportunity to prove what they can do in world markets.