§ LORD MANCROFTasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have examined the contention of Mr. A. R. Conan, formerly Assistant Secretary of the Commonwealth Economic Committee, that the British taxpayer is subsidising certain overseas producers to the extent of £200 million a year by paying above the market price for their produce and, if so, whether they will indicate who are the principal beneficiaries of this benevolence.
§ THE MINISTER OF STATE, BOARD OF TRADE (LORD BROWN)My Lords, Mr. Conan's contention has been examined. Any estimate depends on the assumptions on which it is made. We do not think it is realistic, for example, to compare the price for sugar paid by Britain under the Commonwealth Sugar Agreement with the free market price and to calculate the difference as a subsidy to the overseas suppliers. In the absence of this Agreement and of corresponding arrangements for sugar supplies entered into by other major importers, the free market price in recent years would undoubtedly have been considerably higher. Moreover, it is very hard to judge whether international commodity agreements designed to stabilise prices have resulted in price levels which are higher, taking one year with another, than they would have been in the absence of such agreements. Consequently, we do not believe it is possible to arrive at a satisfactory estimate of the extent to which commodity arrangements may or may not involve an element of subsidisation of overseas producers.
House adjourned at twenty-nine minutes before one o'clock.