§ 6. Mr. BarnesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he last met his European counterparts to discuss the lifting of the ban on United Kingdom beef exports. [13109]
§ The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Mr. Douglas Hogg)I met the Agriculture Commissioner on 28 January to discuss our proposals for a certified herds scheme. We will submit those proposals in writing in the next few weeks and will press the Commission for an urgent decision.
§ Mr. BarnesIs not the beef ban still 100 per cent. in place? Following the Florence agreement, did not the Prime Minister come here and say that the ban would be lifted by November? The Minister has mentioned that he has not yet submitted the proposals on certified herds, despite the fact that that matter has been raised and discussed in the House on numerous occasions. The Government jump about from place to place—so much that one would think that the agreement was not from Florence but from Zebedee.
§ Mr. HoggWe have now implemented all five of the Florence agreement preconditions, and we are now looking to the European states to honour their part of the bargain.
§ Mr. Peter AtkinsonWhen my right hon. and learned Friend meets his counterparts in Europe, will he give them the latest figures on BSE? Can he confirm that, last year, there was a further and dramatic decline in the number of reported cases?
§ Mr. HoggMy hon. Friend is quite right. I am glad to say that the numbers of confirmed cases of BSE in the United Kingdom are falling year on year by about 40 per cent., and we hope to see the effective end of the disease in the United Kingdom national herd by around 2001. The latest figures I have—which may be of interest to the House—are as follows: in 1994, there were 23,944 confirmed cases; in 1995, that had fallen to 14,076; in 1996, the number of confirmed cases as presently assessed was 7,202. More pathological tests are to be completed, but that shows the trend.
§ Mr. William RossEven after the cull is completed, the EC will still have to satisfy itself that any region of the United Kingdom is free from BSE. Will the Minister therefore press ahead with all speed to ensure that, as each region of the UK is certified as free from BSE, the EC will investigate and confirm that that is so? Will he also urge his noble Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to do what she can to sort out the problem of the suckler herd holdings?
§ Mr. HoggThe hon. Gentleman has always been concerned about the flagged herds. I understand that, and I know that my noble Friend the Under-Secretary shares that concern.
We are indeed anxious to proceed with the slaughter as rapidly as possible. I anticipate that in Great Britain the slaughter will start before the end of the month, and we have already begun the process of tracing. I hope that we will complete the tracing and most of the slaughter within six months or so, and we are certainly anxious to involve the Commission by way of inspections and reports.
§ Mr. John GreenwayWill my right hon. and learned Friend concede that the ban was wrong and unjustified in the first place; that the Government's actions since it was 1133 imposed in March last year have meant that beef in this country is of the highest quality and free from any risk; and that, if only the rest of the European Union would take the same measures on specified bovine offals and meat and bonemeal, the same would be true there?
§ Mr. HoggMy hon. Friend is entirely right. I share his view that British beef is the best and the safest in Europe. It is important that the European Union should agree to a proper offal regime in its abattoirs, as we have in ours. I regret the fact that the Agriculture Council decided not to accept those proposals from the Commission. It would be enormously helpful if the European Union would copy our measures in mainland Europe, so that the prohibition on the use of meat and bonemeal in food rations was extended to all farm animals.
§ Dr. StrangIs it the case that the Minister did not find time yesterday to apologise to the annual general meeting of the National Farmers Union for the fact that the Government have delayed the lifting of the beef ban by a whole six months by shelving the Florence agreement? Is it also the case that he did find time to insult his audience with a pack of nonsense about the Labour party?
As my hon. Friend the Member for North-East Derbyshire (Mr. Barnes) reminded us, the Prime Minister said in July that the beef ban would be lifted in November. Will the Minister tell the House when he now expects the ban to be lifted?
§ Mr. HoggI had a very interesting discussion with the National Farmers Union yesterday, in which I made a number of points, one of which was that, in respect of BSE-related expenditure, we had committed £3.3 billion, the equivalent of 2p on income tax. I asked whether those attending supposed that the Labour party would have done that; it was clear that they did not. When I raised the matter of the near certainty of the Labour party removing relief for inheritance tax purposes from agricultural land, I noticed that they all agreed with that. On the selective cull, I did not have to remind them, because they know full well that until October they were opposed to it.
§ Mr. David NicholsonWill my right hon. and learned Friend continue to remind our European counterparts that in this country we have slaughtered 1.3 million predominantly healthy cattle; that we propose under the Florence agreement to slaughter a further 100,000 or so predominantly healthy cattle; and that, as he has just reminded the House, this process is costing the British taxpayer—predominantly, with some help from Europe—more than £3 billion? As we have public debates in the country over the next few weeks, not only the farming community but the taxpayers will show their resentment at the continued discrimination against British beef by our European counterparts, and at their failure to put their own house in order.