§ Mr. Tebbitasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list, for every year since 1945, the degree of agricultural self-sufficiency, as measured by the percentage of food consumed in Great Britain which is imported.
§ Mr. StrangEstimates of the percentage of food consumed which is imported are available only on a United Kingdom basis and on a strictly comparable basis since 1955–56. The percentages do not measure overall agricultural self-sufficiency, which would be affected by other factors, notably exports of agricultural products and the proportions of non-food agricultural products such as animals, animal feed and wool, which are imported. The information is as follows:
IMPORTS AS A PERCENTAGE OF UNITED KINGDOM FOOD SUPPLIES JULY/JUNE YEARS 1955–56 50.9 1956–57 51.4 1957–58 48.9 1958–59 49.8 1959–60 50.1 1960–61 50.7 1961–62 49.1 1962–63 49.0 1963–64 49.6 1964–65 49.1 1965–66 48.6 1966–67 48.2 1967–68 47.6 1968–69 47.9 1969–70 47.0 1970–71 46.8 1971–72 46.4 1972–73 45.4 1973–74 45.5 1974–75 48.0 1975–76 46.3