§ Mr. Richard Shepherdasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if, further to his answer of 8 July 1980, Official Report, column 139 relating to food costs, he will state the basis of his calculation; and if, on the same basis of calculation, he will estimate the current cost to United Kingdom consumers of buying food.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerThe estimate in my reply of 8 July 1980 represented simply the sum of the products of (i) the United Kingdom import levy in force in mid-June 1980 and (ii) the estimated annual volume of consumption in respect of each of the main commodities subject to import levies. As stated in my reply of 8 December, I do not consider that a simple estimate of this kind represents the cost to United Kingdom consumers.