§ Miss Boothroydasked the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection by what percentage retail food prices have risen since the United Kingdom joined the European Economic Community in January 1973; and what proportion of that rise can be attributed to the common agricultural policy.
§ Mr. Maclennan:Between mid-January 1973 and mid-October 1978 the retail food index has increased by 146.9 per cent., though in the year to October 1978 the increase was just 6.9 per cent.
It is not possible to identify, after the event, the effect of the CAP separately from all the other factors affecting food prices. However, the best available estimate is that without the additional cost of purchasing food at CAP rather than world prices the overall level of food prices would at the moment be reduced by less than 10 per cent. The effect of EEC membership on food prices at any time depends on the relative levels of CAP and world prices, which fluctuate 133W over time, and the current figure therefore depends on assumptions about the prices at which food would be available to meet all the United Kingdom's requirements on the world market. In 1974 and 1975, for example, world prices tended to exceed CAP prices, and the effects of membership on food prices were then negligible. It is one of the Government's objectives for the CAP to ensure that support prices take greater account of world price levels.