§ 2. Mr. Hamlingasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what would be the estimated effect on consumer prices of changing farm support programmes from subsidies or deficiency payments to import levies.
§ Mr. PeartImport levies alone would certainly not be an adequate substitute for the present guarantee system. But leaving this difficulty on one side, the effect of the change could only be to make the consumer bear the whole cost of supporting producer returns. To keep these at their present level, given the present pattern of consumption and marketing, the overall cost of food to consumers would need to rise by something like £400 million a year—that is, about 7 or 8 per cent. For some products the rise could be even more.