HC Deb 17 December 1998 vol 322 cc1083-5
4. Ms Christine Russell (City of Chester)

What steps he has taken to promote sustainable rural development. [62988]

7. Mr. Michael J. Foster (Worcester)

What measures have been taken to promote the rural economy. [62991]

The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Mr. Nick Brown)

The Government have provided a broad range of support for the rural economy since May 1997, including £112 million available for agriculture-related rural development projects under the objective 5b programme, an additional £50 million a year for rural transport, and aid—amounting to over £270 million—to support the livestock sector. Those measures are in addition to the support for agriculture under the common agricultural policy which is worth, on average, £3 billion a year.

Ms Russell

I am sure that my right hon. Friend is aware that a number of local authorities are doing their best to bolster the rural economy by innovative schemes such as grants to small rural businesses and village shops and grant aid for the re-utilisation of redundant farm buildings. I know that there is excellent joined-up government work between the Ministry and the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions. My former planning authority has asked me what the relationship is between the review that my right hon. Friend announced last month into the long-term strategy for the rural economy and the rural White Paper, which I know is in preparation. Can my right hon. Friend help?

Mr. Brown

The two examinations are being conducted in parallel. The work between my Department and the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions is very important. We are working together on the joint White Paper for rural Britain. There are also areas of overlap between several schemes that are administered by my Department and the Department of my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister. We are trying to ensure that we get the maximum return for public expenditure.

Mr. Foster

Does my right hon. Friend agree that the new Countryside Agency will create a new and more integrated voice for rural England?

Mr. Brown

Yes, I agree with my hon. Friend. It is important that my Department and the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions work closely on those projects and keep our objective clearly in mind. That objective is to reshape the CAP, so that it provides, among other things, a broader support mechanism for rural England, and to ensure that the work in my right hon. Friend's Department complements our projects.

Miss Anne McIntosh (Vale of York)

Farmers in the Vale of York, particularly those in the uplands area, have benefited through objective 5b and the subsidies to which the right hon. Gentleman referred. Will he give them an assurance that they will continue to benefit—not perhaps to the same extent, but in large measure—particularly in the transitional phase, from the moneys that they have enjoyed in the past? They are still in the middle of a farming crisis and would appreciate such an assurance.

Mr. Brown

I agree with the thrust of the hon. Lady's question. It is my intention that the rural support measures that come under the first pillar of the CAP and what we hope will be a strongly developing second tier are specifically targeted at farm businesses. Small and medium businesses are particularly at the forefront of my mind. They are of enormous importance to the rural economy, and the hon. Lady is right to make her point.

Mr. Patrick Nicholls (Teignbridge)

Does the right hon. Gentleman recall that his colleague the hon. Member for Worcester (Mr. Foster) has devoted all his energy in this, his first and last Parliament, to abolishing fox hunting, the effect of which would be the loss of 16,000 jobs in the rural economy and the removal from that economy of something in the region of a quarter of a billion pounds? Does not the fact that the right hon. Gentleman and his right hon. and hon. Friends will be trooping through the Lobbies to abolish fox hunting at the next opportunity show that class hatred and urban intolerance are every bit as prevalent under new Labour as they were under old Labour?

Mr. Brown

I do not care very much for class issues. It is what a person is that counts, not what his ancestors did. As for fox hunting, I shall vote to abolish it if the opportunity arises. The idea that the Home Office is currently considering—that of balloting on the issue, county by county—is worthy of exploration, and we shall see what the outcome of that is.

The hon. Gentleman asked whether I understood the impact of abolition on the rural economy. Of course I do. It was implicit in the answer that I gave the hon. Member for Vale of York (Miss McIntosh) that not only do I understand the impact but the Government are trying to do something about it.