EGGS (PROTECTION OF GUARANTEES) ORDER 1973

HL Deb 16 April 1973 vol 341 cc974-5

6.28 p.m.

EARL FERRERS rose to move, That the Eggs (Protection of Guarantees) Order 1973, be approved. The noble Earl said: My Lords, I fear we are getting in a bit of a scramble. This Order sets out the requirements that egg packers must observe for the purposes of the Eggs Guarantee arrangements. It supersedes the Eggs (Protection of Guarantees) Order 1972 which was very similar, but a new Order is necessary to include changes which are made necessary by our membership of the European Economic Community. These are not very substantial. I shall be perfectly happy to explain the changes in detail if the noble Lord, Lord Hoy, wishes and I should not like him to think that I was failing to do so if I just moved them formally. If the noble Lord wishes to make any observation on the Order I shall be glad to try to answer him. I beg to move the Eggs (Protection of Guarantees) Order 1973.

Moved, That the Eggs (Protection of Guarantees) Order 1973 be approved—(Earl Ferrers.)

LORD HOY

My Lords, I do not want to make any objection to this Order although I am bound to say that the conditions of it, requiring egg producers to provide certain information, remind me of the days when I was responsible for these Orders. The only difference was that when I was responsible at least we gave a guarantee and some money to the egg producers. On this occasion the Government are asking them for all this information without any guarantee at all.

All I wanted to do was to take advantage of the occasion to ask the noble Earl, as I asked him a week or two ago, about the position of the egg-producing industry, because undoubtedly they will be in great difficulty. As he already knows, I was a great supporter of the Egg Marketing Board and I am very sorry that it has gone—the fault being that of the industry and not the Government or anybody else. When he was moving this Order to bring them into line with the Common Market, I wondered whether the Government had given any further thought to what the future of the British egg industry is going to be?

EARL FERRERS

My Lords, of course the Government are very concerned with what the future of the egg industry is going to be. But, as the noble Lord, Lord Hoy, will know, the Reorganisation Commission suggested some years ago that there should be a free market in eggs; that the egg industry was a highly developed industry; it is a highly intensive industry, and that it would be capable of doing its own marketing. Indeed, in its Report it was influenced by the views of a number of egg producers themselves who at that time were against the Egg Marketing Board. It was the Agriculture Act of the Government of the noble Lord, Lord Hoy, that disposed of the Egg Marketing Board and set up the Eggs Authority. There have been fluctuations, of course, over the last couple of years in the egg industry. 1971 was a fairly steady year whereas in 1972 there was an expansion with the result that there was a glut with low prices. That resulted in some contraction this year with correspondingly high prices. We believe that the egg industry is capable of managing its own affairs and looking after itself in a comprehensive way and also in a competitive manner. Certainly the Government will be watching the future of the egg industry with great care, but we have no reason to believe that they will not be capable of operating in a free market.

On Question, Motion agreed to.