§ 3. Mr. GreenwayIf he will visit the North Yorkshire Moors national park to discuss the current state of hill farming. [17667]
Dr. John CunninghamI have no immediate plans to visit the North Yorkshire Moors national park, although I do admire it. My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary has a number of visits planned to Yorkshire and Humberside.
§ Mr. GreenwayIf and when the Minister comes up to North Yorkshire, I think that he will find the farmers there more responsible, perhaps, than some of their Welsh colleagues, but every bit as angry. I have never known them so angry. Let us be clear: they are angry with him for his failure to take any action in response to the rapid decline in hill farm incomes of recent months and the fact that many farmers now face bankruptcy. It is not just about beef; lamb prices are also under pressure. I appeal to him to use the hill livestock compensatory allowances and the European monetary compensation arrangements. Frankly, if the present unprecedented crisis does not justify the use of those schemes, how bad must things get before he will act?
Dr. CunninghamI am well aware of the problem with the incomes of farmers in less favoured areas generally and of beef producers on the hills in particular. The hon. Gentleman makes a fair point, but total livestock subsidies to all farmers in the less favoured areas are estimated to be worth about £530 million in the coming year. I hope to make an announcement about hill livestock compensatory allowance decisions soon. He is wrong to imply that we are doing nothing about this matter. As he would expect, these matters are under active discussion with my colleagues. As for his point about agrimonetary compensation, I remind him that because of the Fontainebleau compromise negotiated by Baroness Thatcher, for every £100 that we might pay under that heading, £71 would have to come from the United Kingdom taxpayer.
§ Mr.QuinnDoes my right hon. Friend agree—I am sure that my colleague from North Yorkshire, the hon. Member for Ryedale (Mr. Greenway) does—that the real challenges facing hill farmers lie in the future of the common agricultural policy? Farmers in my constituency, which is not many miles from that of the hon. Gentleman, are concerned that we are throwing the baby out with the bath water. I commend to my right hon. Friend an early visit to North Yorkshire, as suggested by the hon. Gentleman.
Dr. CunninghamI agree with my hon. Friend that at the root of these problems—and the causes of the difficulties that farmers face—is the failure of existing 472 provisions in the CAP to provide a long-term, viable income for farmers. It is to that problem that we must look in the longer term, although we shall try to deal with the immediate issues in a different way.
§ Mr. CurryWhen the Minister visits North Yorkshire, will he make two very important points to farmers and consumers? First, it is undoubted that scientific research has shown that bovine spongiform encephalopathy is a much nastier disease than we first thought but, secondly, exposure to it is dropping like a stone because of the measures that have been taken. There is therefore no reason whatever why people should cease to eat beef or to regard it with suspicion.
§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeIs not the Conservative party's concern about hill farm incomes rather synthetic? Only two years ago, the average net income of a hill farmer was £10,500 and at the beginning of the decade, under the Conservative Government, it was just over £8,000. Is it not a bit rich for Conservative Members to complain about hill farm incomes?
Dr. CunninghamI agree with my hon. Friend. It is astonishing how quickly Conservative Members have flipped. Each time we come to the Chamber, they demand more and more public expenditure at the taxpayer's expense.
§ Mr. JackIs the Minister aware that North Yorkshire hill farmers looking at cattle prices in Banbury yesterday would have realised that they had hit a 20-year low? Does he recognise that, 20 years ago, there was a Labour Government? That is why beef farmers have lost all confidence in the Minister. Will he give us his reaction to the leader article inThe Daily Telegraph, which yesterday accused him of going over the top? Instead of pouring more tea and sympathy down the throats of hard-pressed beef farmers, will he tell the House what he intends to do to help them? Will he maintain the level of hill livestock compensatory allowances? Will he remove the extra costs of the Meat Hygiene Service from the backs of farmers? Will he get rid of the upper limit on weight in the over-30-months scheme? Will he mitigate the effects of the new cattle passport scheme on hard-pressed beef farmers?
§ Mr. JackThe Minister has just shown a "couldn't care less" attitude towards the British beef farming industry. He knows, because he and the Treasury have confirmed it to me, that Britain's Fontainebleau rebate will increase next year due to underspend on community programmes in dairy, cereals and livestock. Those are the facts. Why is the Minister not asking for this money for the beef industry now?
Dr. CunninghamAs ever, the right hon. Gentleman has not only got the facts wrong, he cannot even present them coherently. He has just made, yet again—for the fifth or sixth time—a long list of demands for more and more public expenditure. The previous Government, 473 of which he was a member, made no provision for that expenditure. Not for one penny of it did they make any provision. We are operating on the plans that the previous Government prepared for this financial year and for which Conservatives Members voted. It is a bit late for them to change their minds now.