§ 44. Mr. Wingfield Digbyasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what proportion of the latest forecast of the saving to the Exchequer in the cost of 1964–65 farm price support is being handed back to the farmer in the determination of guarantees in 1965.
§ Mr. PeartThe cost of Exchequer support to agriculture was £294 million in 1963–64, is expected to be £270 million in 1964–65 and was put at £295 million for 1965–66 in the Estimates made before this year's Review. The fall in Exchequer cost between 1963–64 and 1964–65 was due largely to the improvement in market prices. In effect, therefore, farmers have been getting less from the taxpayer and more from the consumer. The cost of support was one of the factors considered before the Government reached their Review determinations which increased the value of the guarantees by over £10 million.