§ BARONESS EMMET OF AMBERLEYMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the policy of continuing subsidies to the farming community as outlined in the Minister of Agriculture's speech on January 31 is Government policy; and, if so, whether they have informed the E.E.C. that they are not prepared to modify their policy towards the European system of import levies.]
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, my right honourable friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food accurately represented Government policy on agriculture support arrangements, but expressly emphasised the need to keep an open mind. The Government have made clear on numerous occasions their attitude to the adoption by the United King- 2 dom of the E.E.C. system. The second part of the Question does not therefore arise.
§ BARONESS EMMET OF AMBERLEYMy Lords, while thanking the Minister for his reply, may I ask whether he is aware that in the first part of his speech the Minister of Agriculture said:
In order that farmers get these decisions, right, it is my view that they must be told of the broad objectives of Government policy at any rate for the next four or five years.How does he reconcile that with the question of Ministers' keeping an open mind?
§ LORD BESWICKI should have thought, my Lords, that they were easily reconcilable. By adopting the kind of policy which Her Majesty's Government have adopted over the past year and dealing with each commodity as the problems arise we are keeping the farming community aware of our policy.
§ BARONESS EMMET OF AMBERLEYMy Lords, would the Minister not agree with me that if the farmer must know for four or five years in advance what is going to happen to him, it is no good keeping an open mind on other possibilities?
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, I will give the noble Baroness the full text of the speech—
§ BARONESS EMMET OF AMBERLEYI have it.
§ LORD BESWICK—and she will find that there is absolutely nothing in my right honourable friend's speech which is not fair to the farmer and properly 3 critical of the policy which is now being advocated by the Opposition.
§ LORD NUGENT OF GUILDFORDMy Lords, as the Government have already stated their adoption of the principle of import control for the future of eggs, would it help them to be more consistent in their actions if they stated that they were already proceeding by commodities to adopt the policy which is adopted by the E.E.C.?
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, the noble Lord asks for consistency. I think that that is an admirable virtue, but rigidity or dogmatism are not qualities which Her Majesty's Government would like to see adopted.
§ LORD DONALDSON OF KINGS-BRIDGEMy Lords, would my noble friend not agree that a policy which is applicable to over-production can be entirely irrelevant to a commodity of which a country imports some third or half from other countries?
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, my noble friend is right. I really cannot understand the noble Lord, Lord Nugent, in taking up the attitude that because something has been done in respect of eggs it must necessarily be applied over the whole field of agricultural policy. What stands out in my right honourable friend's speech is his statement that if the policy of minimum import prices were applied over the whole field of agriculture it would send up retail food prices by something between 4 per cent. and 7 per cent.
§ LORD NUGENT OF GUILDFORDMy Lords, I think the noble Lord has misunderstood my question. My question was directed to trying to help the noble Lord to be consistent with the Government's policy of entering the E.E.C., so that they could claim that they have at least made a beginning in agricultural policy with eggs.
§ LORD BESWICKYes, my Lords, I accept the noble Lord's desire to be helpful. He normally is helpful. Of course, he could have gone further. Not only have we had a certain policy with regard to eggs, which has aroused the opposition of the National Farmers' Union, but we have also controls of 4 butter; we have some controls of bacon; and we dealt with these different policies in a realistic and fair way.
§ BARONESS EMMET OF AMBERLEYMy Lords, would the Minister agree that it is very important that the farmers in this country and the E.E.C. in Europe should understand exactly what Her Majesty's Government's policy is, so that it does not appear to be contradictory in different speeches?