HC Deb 30 July 1959 vol 610 cc137-9W
Mr. D. Price

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, in view of the undertaking given to the Danish Government that Her Majesty's Government will not increase subsidies to the agricultural industry in order to frustrate the terms of the recent Anglo-Danish Trade Agreement, whether he will outline the differences, officially communicated to him in the negotiations, in the methods by which the Danish Government supports its agriculture compared with those followed by Her Majesty's Government, with particular reference to the price of feeding stuffs, the raising of capital, the cost of fuel, the guaranteeing of markets and fiscal advantages.

Mr. John Hare

Under the Anglo-Danish Agreement we have specifically reserved our right to determine annually the guaranteed price for pigs, with due regardinter alia to changes in costs. At the same time we have agreed that subsidy policy should not be used in such a way as to render nugatory the opportunity given to Danish producers in the United Kingdom market by the removal of the bacon tariff. In the circumstances of the negotiations to which my hon. Friend refers, it would not have been appropriate to go into the question of indirect supports to Danish agriculture.