§ 103. Mr. John Leeasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will provide an estimate of the cost to the Exchequer of providing compensatory subsidies to offset the introduction of the mode of financing agriculture now operating in the Common Market countries on the basis that the subsidies were provided according to the system used in the war and post-war years; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Cledwyn Hughes:In the war and post-war years when food was in short supply the Government purchased and resold the main foodstuffs, or controlled their sale at fixed prices. It is not possible to make a meaningful estimate of the cost of returning to such a system here under Common Market conditions.