HL Deb 19 March 1979 vol 399 cc993-4WA
Lord O'HAGAN

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What effect membership of the EEC has had on the price of food in the United Kingdom.

Lord STRABOLGI

The Government have not made estimates of the effect of EEC membership on United Kingdom food prices because it is not possible to say precisely how prices for both imports and domestic products would have moved if the United Kingdom had not become a member of the Community. In March 1978 the Cambridge Economic Policy Group published an estimate that membership of the EEC was adding 12p in the £ to United Kingdom retail food prices. While supporting the broad conclusions of their study, which related to the cost of membership overall, my right honourable friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, said he thought the estimate of the effect on retail food prices might be somewhat on the high side.