HC Deb 05 May 1994 vol 242 cc829-30
5. Mr. Amess

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what progress she has made in seeking a common agricultural policy which gives better value for money.

Mrs. Gillian Shephard

The UK played a major part in achieving the 1992 CAP reform, which is progressively encouraging farmers to depend less on price support and more on the market.

Mr. Amess

Can my right hon. Friend reassure me that in the further negotiations on the CAP, Britain and the Commission will do everything possible to put a high priority on combating fraud, which is causing some concern to my constituents in Basildon?

Mrs. Shephard

I am happy to give that reassurance to my hon. Friend and his constituents. The people of Basildon and elsewhere in the UK feel strongly about this matter and they expect the Government to pursue fraud wherever it occurs. I assure my hon. Friend that I intend to do that with all the force of which I am capable.

Mr. Barnes

As there are now to be four new members of the European Union is it not time to get rid of the sillier features of its arrangements? The CAP certainly qualifies in that respect. Not one change to the CAP resulted from Maastricht—indeed, the treaty made no reference to agriculture. Surely we now have a great opportunity to get rid of anti-social and anti-democratic measures.

Mrs. Shephard

The common agricultural policy has a number of unwelcome features. One is that its cost is far too high and is not sustainable. We cannot expect agriculture, which represents 5 per cent. of the Community's gross domestic product, to continue to account for 54 per cent. of the EC budget. That is why the Government constantly argue that the cost of the CAP should be brought down and that some of its other features that distort the market and restrain competitiveness and innovation, such as quotas and supply controls, should be removed.

Dr. Liam Fox

Will my right hon. Friend confirm that the proportion of the EC budget that has gone to maintain the CAP fell from 70 per cent. in 1988 to 50 per cent this year? While that is a welcome move, it is not nearly enough. We must move much further in that direction because, among other things, the CAP charges taxpayers tax so that food can be sold back to them at a higher price than they would otherwise have had to pay.

Mrs. Shephard

The reformed CAP will result in reduced prices for consumers—something like £2 billion less for taxpayers and consumers in Britain by the end of the period. Nevertheless, as I said, such a high percentage —54 per cent. to benefit 5 per cent. of EC gross domestic product—is not acceptable or sustainable in the longer term.

Mr. Skinner

Does the Minister agree that it is costing approximately £28 a week for every family in Britain to sustain the CAP? Since she has the ear of the Prime Minister and speaks up for him on occasion, albeit misguidedly, as she did last weekend, can she tell us whether she has consulted him on the idea that is being floated—that there should be a referendum on Europe to resolve the Common Market problem—and tell me what the answer is?

Mrs. Shephard

I do not agree with the hon. Gentleman's figures, which are misguided. Nor do I agree with anything else that he says at any time, including his suggestion about a referendum.