§ 2.49 p.m.
§ LORD SHINWELLMy 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 it is the intention of the 234 Minister of Agriculture when he attends the meeting of the E.E.C. Commission on March 21/22 to resist the proposal of the French to increase the price of beef.
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, as my noble friend will appreciate, I am unable to declare beforehand the negotiating position of the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries. But the Minister's general objective will be to make certain that, so far as the British housewife is concerned, there will be no rises in prices for her basic foodstuffs as a result of the Council meeting. The Minister will of course also have in mind the need to promote the growth of our own agriculture, including the production of beef.
§ LORD SHINWELLMy Lords, may I ask my noble friend a supplementary question? Are we to understand that if my right honourable friend the Minister of Agriculture should fail in his endeavours there will be no confrontation but just a cautionary approach with the utmost prudence? Is that the position?
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, taking a leaf out of the book of my noble friend, I think it would be unwise to go into any discussion with the possibility of failure in our minds.
§ LORD SHINWELLMy Lords, is my noble friend aware of the real position in regard to beef in this country and on the Continent? Has he taken note of the article by the agricultural correspondent of the Financial Times the other day, to the effect that there is a glut of beef and that beef is being hoarded and placed in cold storage? Therefore, will my noble friend say whether there is any justification whatever for increasing the price of beef?
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, I have already said that my right honourable friend's objective will be to ensure that there is no increase in the price of beef to the British housewife. I think it would be possible to draw my right honourable friend's attention to the fact that conditions generally in the world, and in the context of the E.E.C. in particular, have increased the price of feeding-stuffs even more and this means that the 235 farmer producing the beef is in some difficulties at present.
§ LORD GLADWYNMy Lords, would the noble Lord agree that, with the heavy increase in the world price of feeding-stuffs, there will have to be an agreement by negotiation on a certain increase in the price of beef, which will bring it out of cold storage, or we shall have to subsidise the farmers here—which is perfectly legitimate if the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries wishes so to do—or there will be an increasing shortage of beef.
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, I agree with the noble Lord that the price of feedingstuffs is relevant to the price of beef, but I also agree with my noble friend that the world price of feeding-stuffs, and other commodities, is in part due to what has been happening in the world as a whole.
§ LORD SHINWELLMy Lords, has my noble friend noted the somewhat strange and novel philosophy of the Liberal Party as expressed by the noble Lord, Lord Gladwyn, that in order to produce more beef we ought to raise the price by taking it out of cold storage? Is that the sort of policy that will satisfy Her Majesty's Government?
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, my noble friend is asking me whether I think the Liberal policy will satisfy Her Majesty's Government. The answer is, "No".
§ LORD GLADWYNMy Lords, it has nothing to do with Liberal policy, it is simply a common-sense policy.
§ LORD HALEMy Lords, I am sorry to interrupt my noble friend and the noble Lord opposite, but may I ask why we are attending the second annual Economic Community Conference on food subsidies when we have not yet been able to attend, with effect, the first annual conference on the Development Fund? We were promised time after time by the former Minister that if only we cast a little beef on French waters it would be returned to us a hundredfold in bricks and mortar, and that that is where Britain would really benefit. What has happened to that? Could the noble Lord say whether there is truth in the rumour that in the meantime the Yeomen of the 236 Guard are being issued with a special ration of petits pois?
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, the principal relevant happening of recent weeks was the General Election, which means that for the first time we are able to take an effective part in these negotiations.
§ THE EARL OF ONSLOWMy Lords, would the noble Lord bear very strongly in mind that the price of beef to farmers came down to £22 a hundredweight last January and February and is now bumping somewhere around £17.75 to £18 a hundredweight? The price of feed grain has gone from £32 to £65 a hundredweight and unless something is done to assist the farmers, with all the cows in calf being slaughtered, there will be no beef in two years' time. That is what we should be worrying about and not about other prospects, whether French or not French.
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, the noble Earl's figures support what I said in reply to the second supplementary question.
§ LORD DIAMONDMy Lords, while referring to my noble friend's reply about other commodities, may I ask him whether the Government are proposing, as I understand the previous Government were proposing, to issue figures showing the amount that the British housewife is saving on her weekly purchases of food as a result of our membership of the European Economic Community?
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, if my noble friend will put down an appropriate Question I will see that it gets an appropriate reply.