§ 9. Sir Teddy TaylorTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the expenditure on the destruction of fruit and vegetables through common agriculture policies in the most recent year for which figures are available; and what was the average amount in the previous five years. [2899]
§ Mr. MorleyIn 1996, total expenditure on intervention across the European Union was £145 million. The average for the previous five years was £265 million. The cost of those fruits and vegetables subsequently destroyed, as opposed to those put to other end uses, cannot be separately identified.
§ Sir Teddy TaylorIs it not sickening that hundreds of millions of pounds have been spent on destroying food to keep prices artificially high, thereby undermining the living standards of the poor? Will the new Labour Government commit themselves today to scrapping that sickening protection racket, which is a hundred thousand miles from what I had always understood socialism to stand for?
§ Mr. MorleySuch levels of destruction and the costs are clearly scandalous. There is no other word for it. Fruit and vegetable regime reforms have reduced the payments by 40 per cent. and the amounts of produce destroyed. Intervention is a part of the common agricultural policy. We shall be pressing for reforms of such elements of the CAP.