HC Deb 16 April 1981 vol 3 cc225-6W
Mr. Richard Shepherd

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) by how much the United Kingdom's membership of the EEC increased the overall cost of food in the United Kingdom in 1980;

(2) how much of the cost of food to the British consumer in 1980 was attributable to membership of the EEC; and what proportion of food sales that represented.

Mr. Buchanan-Smith

Any estimates of this kind must depend on the nature of the alternative arrangements hypothesised. These can only be speculated upon, but it should be noted that an reduction in the cost of food to the consumer would, in all probability, be significantly offset by higher taxation arising from the alternative support arrangements for agriculture that would need to be assumed.

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