§ Mr. Pollockasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will now make a statement about the level of milk prices in Scotland.
§ Mr. YoungerI propose shortly to lay an order which will raise the maximum boards' firsthand selling price to 17.983 per litre, and the ex-dairy price to 124p per gallon in Scotland with effect from the beginning of January.
345WAs I made clear in my reply of 16 April 1981 to my hon. Friend the Member for Argyll (Mr. MacKay)—[Vol. 3, c. 228–29]—the Government have withdrawn control from the maximum retail, doorstep delivered price of milk in Scotland. This change took effect from 1 October last. We have sought, since then, to operate the ex-dairy price control in a manner which permits the parties directly concerned to negotiate actual prices in the light of commercial circumstances, within the maximum which we continue to set at that point.
I propose to carry this concept through to the boards' firsthand selling price on the next occasion on which it is adjusted, so that it would also become a true maximum within which the parties could, and should negotiate.