§ Mr. Richard Shepherdasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he has taken in 1980 to reduce the cost of the common agricultural policy to British consumers; and how much this has amounted to.
§ Mr. Buchanan-SmithWe negotiated the continuation of the butter subsidy, which is wholly financed by the Community and is worth about £100 million to consumers in a full year.
We secured agreement to the continuation of the beef variable premium scheme, which enables the United Kingdom to support beef production by payments to farmers instead of relying exclusively on support of the market price through intervention purchases. The Community also introduced a suckler cow subsidy as an alternative to a further increase in the beef support price. The premiums are partly, and the suckler cow subsidy is wholly, Community-financed, and estimated expenditure on them in the United Kingdom in the 1980–81 marketing year is £78 million and £18 million respectively.
§ Mr. Richard Shepherdasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food by how much the cost of the common agricultural policy to the British consumer has risen in 1980.
§ Mr. Buchanan-SmithThe only measure taken under the common agricultural policy which increased consumer prices was the increase in United Kingdom farm support prices for 1980–81. I estimate that this caused a rise of under 1 per cent. in the food price index, far lower than the prevailing rate of inflation.