HC Deb 24 June 1996 vol 280 cc3-4
4. Mr. Simon Hughes

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what are his responsibilities in respect of coordinating the policy of Her Majesty's Government with other Governments in the European Union. [32607]

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Mr. Roger Freeman)

Co-ordination of policy with our European partners is a matter for individual Ministers within their respective areas of responsibility, and overall for my right hon. and learned Friend the Foreign Secretary.

Mr. Hughes

Individual Ministers may be on good terms with each other, but they are clearly responsible for causing the problem. In the past months, we have seen the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food getting into a huge hole, which the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and his colleagues have had to dig him out of. What assurance can the right hon. Gentleman give the House that, in future, we shall have a sufficiently good relationship with our European colleagues that we do not become the pariahs of the European Union, to the disadvantage, not of Ministers of the Crown, but of the people of the United Kingdom?

Mr. Freeman

My right hon. and learned Friend the Minister of Agriculture is, at this moment, participating fully in the Agriculture Council. He has done a magnificent job in defending the interests of the British farming industry and he will continue to do so. In the past four weeks of our policy of non-co-operation—which has now come to an end—we have successfully focused the minds of Ministers and Governments in the European Union. We have now reached a successful conclusion in the sense that a framework document has been agreed that will lead to an early lifting of the ban. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister will be saying something further about the timetable at 3.30 pm.

Mr. Sykes

Do not the Germans, Spanish and Italians practise the same techniques all the time? When my right hon. Friend next goes to talk to other Governments in Europe, will he bring to their attention the dangerous provision of the 48-hour week and the fact that it was introduced into this country in a deceitful way? Will he take the same attitude towards that as he has towards beef?

Mr. Freeman

I can give my hon. Friend the assurance that, unlike the Opposition, we shall continue to fight for the national interests of the United Kingdom, which is not inconsistent with belonging to the European Union. Since the inception of the Common Market, which is now the European Union, this country has always fought for British interests, just as other countries have fought for their interests.

Mr. Mandelson

Will the right hon. Gentleman throw away the cryptic text prepared for him over the weekend that tried to dismiss the story as rubbish and answer a simple question of fact? Is there in existence a letter from the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office to the Prime Minister criticising the Government's handling of the beef crisis and making a threat, veiled or otherwise, to resign from the Government?

Mr. Freeman

If ever there was an author of cryptic messages in party politics or Parliament, the hon. Gentleman must take the prize. The answer to the wholly erroneous newspaper story was, as my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has said, rubbish.